Undercover
by MadelineSnape Esq
Summary: The UCOS team is trying to solve a murder but their main suspect won't even speak to them. Their only option is to send Sandra and Strickland undercover as a married couple at a golf resort—much to Sandra's dismay. But the two soon learn that going undercover can be both fun and hazardous to their health. Sandra/Strickland.
1. Chapter 1

Note: This story takes place sometime after the end of the 5th season and is rated T to be on the safe side.

 _Disclaimer- I own nothing I wish I did but I just get to play with the characters_

Undercover

Chapter 1

"What do you mean you talked to Strickland and he agreed to go undercover with me?" Sandra exclaimed in shock and disbelief. She stood in the middle of the UCOS office looking at the three men who had all but committed mutiny against her.

"We agreed that the best way to get to Bennett was to go undercover at this golf and spa resort that he is staying at." Jack began carefully sensing her anger. She wasn't sure she had ever been this irritated with her team and she just glared as they continued to talk.

"And it's a couple's resort so we can't just send you in alone" Brian added as if she didn't already know all of this.

"It wouldn't be safe to send you in alone anyway, this guy is dangerous after all and chauvinistic so he isn't likely to open up to you. But I can't golf with this broken ankle." Gerry continued to tell her information she already knew but she couldn't find the words to stop them instead she looked down at the cast on his leg.

"Plus no one is going to believe you are my wife and this is not the place a father goes with his daughter." Jack reminded her that this resort was only populated with couples most of whom were married.

"I know all of this" she hissed at them finally finding her voice. "And that is why we disregarded the idea." She told them through her teeth as her anger strangled her voice.

"Yes but then we got to thinking about alternative options and we thought of Strickland. He is the right age." Brian replied eagerly not picking up on her volatile mood.

"And we know he golfs, he was in Spain not two months ago, for a golf holiday." Gerry reminded her with a grin, he was clearly enjoying her discomfort and she had never wanted to hit him so much as she did right then.

"So we thought we would go up and ask him, see what he thought, the worst that could happen was he would say no and we would simply be right back where we started." Jack informed her and he at least had enough sense not to smile.

"But he said yes, so we are good to go" Brian exclaimed happily.

"You forgot to ask me" she yelled at them unable to contain her fury any longer. "Why didn't you talk to me about this first, before you went to talk to him? You didn't ask me?" she yelled at them. "Why the bloody hell did you talk to him before you came to me? I should have been the first one you spoke to about this." She demanded furious with them.

"We thought he would say no and there was no reason to talk to you about it if he didn't agree. But to our surprise he agreed." Gerry tried to explain, if he was trying to reduce her anger he was doing a terrible job.

"But what if I said no, you are supposed to talk this over with me first not him." She cried unable to contain her dismay at their actions.

"Why would you say no?" Brian asked confused.

"I don't…a whole week…him?" she shuddered trying to explain to them that she didn't want to spend the week at a golf resort with Robert Strickland. Yet even as she thought this she felt embarrassed and guilty.

"Sandra I know he can be…pompous and sometimes an arse and a tosser and a top bras jerk and he might have a stick-"

"Thank you Gerry" Jack cut him off much to Sandra's relief. "He might not be your first choice to go undercover with but he agreed to go with you and this is our best option. I am sure he will be completely professional." He reminded her trying to calm her and he managed to made her feel worse. Strickland had agreed even though he had to find all of this awkward as well.

"Take one for the team" Gerry begged her when she didn't respond to Jack's words.

"It's not like I have much choice since you kept me out of this and he already agreed." She said with a sigh.

"That's the spirit" Gerry replied quickly grinning again and she wanted to hit him even more now.

"When is this all going to happen?" she asked instead trying to stamp down on her emotions.

"Check in is at four tomorrow afternoon, same cover we talked about before Gerry messed up his ankle." Brian informed her and tomorrow suddenly felt too soon but she didn't say anything.

"You two will be a married couple on the verge of divorce, this place is your last chance. Which is the resort's specialty, they are all about romantic trips. This is the same reason the Bennett's are there." Gerry added telling her more information she already knew and she chose to just glare at him.

"You don't even have to get along with Strickland, you two are supposed to fight." Jack pointed out trying to help.

"Different types of fighting" she grumbled to herself.

"I got Strickland into Bennett's golf group, we can put a wire on him and anything Bennett says during those golf games we will hear. You two will be at the same table for dinner. All you have to do is get close to the wife—Anne." Brian explained, she didn't even want to know how he managed to get them in with the Bennett's.

"You make is sound so easy" she replied flatly. Being in a person's golf group was easy, getting people to open up was much harder.

"Concentrate on how good it will feel to put this bastard away for good" Gerry suggested.

"I hate all three of you right now" she huffed walking into her office and closing the door. She needed time to mentally prepare for the week ahead.

"I think that went fairly well" Jack said once she left.

"I expected her to yell a lot more" Gerry replied with a grin. "How long do you think she will make it before she tries to kill him?"

"Wednesday" Jack answered.

"Tuesday" Gerry countered.

"Fifty quid?" Jack asked.

"You're on" Gerry agreed shaking the man's hand while Brian just watched confused.

A/N Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it and please let me know what you think. My goal is to update with a new chapter every day or so. (Sorry for any typo I'm only human after all). And Happy New Year!


	2. Chapter 2

**Undercover**

 _Disclaimer- I own nothing I wish I did but I just get to play with the characters_

Chapter 2

"I know this isn't what you had in mind being stuck here with me. And I'm pretty sure I am the very last person you want to be here with. But I think we can be successful at whatever our goal is. I'm still not entirely clear on that point I must admit. That being said, as there is only one bed I can sleep on the chair or the floor." Robert Strickland told Sandra catching her completely off guard and she stared at him for a minute.

It was Saturday afternoon and as schedules they checked into the resort and were getting comfortable and settled into their own personal bungalow. The whole resort was a bunch of individual bungalows spread out over a portion of the resort. It offered them a great deal of privacy which was a refreshing luxury to both, this would allow them to discuss aspects of the case with little fear of being over heard. Additionally it also meant that the number of guest was kept to a relatively small amount and even though it was the middle of summer the place did not appear to be full.

Strickland had driven them both to the resort, after he very graciously picked her up at her house. Everyone agreed that it would look strange even for a soon to be divorced couple to arrive separately. The nearly forty-five-minute drive—thanks to traffic—was a quiet one neither knew what to say to the other. And until his sudden outburst while she was unpacking, their whole time together had been a very silent affair.

"Don't be silly we're adults we can share a bed" she told him once she recovered from her shock and found her voice. She couldn't help but roll her eyes at his attempt at chivalry as she hung up her evening dresses, a necessity for the formal dinners they would be attending every night.

"I didn't think you would want to share a bed with someone you hated" he replied quietly.

"I don't hate you" she objected with a sigh, this was not a very good way to start the week.

"You sure? It's okay if you do" he assured her.

"No trust me you would know if I hated you" she replied darkly as she returned to filling the wardrobe with her clothes.

'"Really because sometimes it feels like you do?" he countered much to her dismay.

"No you annoy me sometimes but I promise you I don't hate you. And I assure you there are plenty of people I would actually hate being here with so you are far from the last person." She informed him hoping to put an end to this ridiculous conversation.

"But you would prefer it if it were one of your team here with you instead, they don't annoy you." He countered, clearly he didn't want to let the issue go and she didn't understand why. Yet if he was going to continue to make these foolish comments the least she could do was correct his misconceptions.

"Okay are you trying to pick a fight?" she asked him sitting down on the bed and staring at him for a moment. "I know our cover is a married couple trying to repair our relationship but you don't need to go all in." She joked trying to lighten his mood a little, when he didn't respond she continued on. "It would be easier with one of my team here and they annoy me all the time. I am just much better at yelling at them. But don't worry I'll soon become good at yelling at you as well." She assured him grinning at the end of her statement as it was likely the truth.

"Oh I think you are already quite good at that" he said with a laugh. He was still in the process of unpacking and she watched as he put his own clothes away.

"Yes but I will become more comfortable with it" she amended her statement.

"Of that I have no doubt. I know Gerry would have preferred to come with you." He continued pushing the topic and she did not understand why he wouldn't just leave it alone.

"Yes but one can't golf with a bum leg. And let's be clear Gerry wanted to come because Gerry wanted to come to this resort and golf. Brian couldn't pull off the part as he doesn't golf and Jack is too old. Do remember this was their idea for you to come, they are quite happy with this whole thing. While I feel the entire situation is a little rushed, at this point I am perfectly find with the arrangement. And you still feel like you are trying to pick a fight." She replied giving him a look.

True her 'perfectly fine' comment was a bit of a stretch and she was not thrilled with the whole situation. Yet there was no reason to tell him any of that now that they were at the resort and moved in.

"I was trying to clear the air so it wasn't awkward" he tried to explain as he finished unpacking.

"Not sure if this was the best way to achieve that but okay" she countered with a sigh.

"I thought it might help" he tried once more sitting down in the desk chair across from the bed.

"I do appreciate it, I just didn't realize we needed to clear the air." She replied unsure if she should feel hurt by his actions or relieved that he didn't think this week was going to be all rainbows and butterflies.

"So what exactly is the plan here?" he asked changing the subject.

"I thought the guys explained this? We are here to get close to Mr. and Mrs. Bennett. He was the best friend and business partner of our victim. He became sole owner after the murder, he had a reputation as being a rather ruthless man and it gives him a good motive. Above all he has been less than co-operative with police. Charles Bennett has long been suspected of having a criminal enterprise yet no one at the Met has ever been able to get close to him or find enough evidence against him to bring him up on charges." She explained slightly confused, she thought Gerry, Jack, and Brian would have informed him of everything he needed to know. She had also expected him to read up on the case before he ever agreed to come.

"Your team did explain but they focused on the golfing and that I was here to back you up" he informed her. The older men's actions didn't surprise her one bit but she still thought he would have pushed them harder before coming here himself.

"You might need to do a little bit more than play golf and back me up. In fact, you might want to read that case file on the desk in front of you." She replied carefully, though she was hardly surprised that he team had neglected to fully explain his role in this operation. He needed to get close to Charles Bennett, something that was very important and something she couldn't do.

"I can see that my part in this operation was somewhat down played" he said eyeing the thick file folder in front of him but he didn't open it. "I gather you will not be joining me on the links?" he asked instead.

"Christ no I don't golf, most of the women who come here don't it seems, thankfully" she responded quickly. She had no desire to pick up some clubs and hit a tiny white ball all over the place for an entire day.

"So what will you be doing?" he asked curious.

"Enjoying the spa and pool. I fear I may have to play tennis but I am willing to take one for the team if it means solving this case." She informed him though she hated tennis nearly as much as she hated golfing.

"This seems more like a holiday than work" he observed.

"Now you see why Gerry wanted to come? It had nothing to do with me, and are you complaining about getting to golf all day for a week?" she inquired with a laugh.

"No of course not, I just don't understand why Gerry, Jack, and Brian were so determined to get us here?"

"All the evidence we have points to Charles Bennett but is isn't enough. He won't come in and talk to us he is too smart for that. We are hoping he will admit to something while golfing in the afternoon sun. And if he doesn't maybe Anne Bennett will let something slip to me." She told him, she was not as convinced as her boys were with the success of this plan but she was no longer in a position to argue.

"And what is your team doing while we are here?" he asked her still slightly confused. She was beginning to wonder if he had asked any questions before he had agreed to come with her.

"Did you miss the wire they want you to wear while golfing? They will be listening to what you guys says out there and then we both will be wearing one at dinner. The rest of the time I am honestly not sure what they will be doing but I am sure it involves Brian and a computer. One of them will always be close by I promise you, they won't leave us entirely alone expect at night." She promised him, Charles Bennett was a little too dangerous and a little too unpredictable, her team wasn't taking too many unnecessary chances.

"Can you fault them for wanting to protect you?" he countered.

"No but I can pretend to be annoyed by it, though I secretly am very thankful for them, I just don't want them to know how much I appreciate them. It will only go to their heads" she told him with a small laugh.

"They really do care about you" he reminded her.

"I know" she replied softly leaving them both feeling slightly uncomfortable for some reason.

"Are you sure you are alright sharing a bed?" he asked quickly changing the subject.

"Yes I promise" she assured him once more.

"Right so do we need to work on our cover story?" He asked picking up the case file from the desk.

"How detailed does it need to be?" she scoffed.

"Well, all we really have is that we are Robert and Sandra Stewart. I'm in the home security business and you are…a motivational speaker?" he told her trying to remember. It was the one thing they had talked about on the drive to the resort.

"Close, I do work place improvement and engagement seminars" she corrected him.

"What about how we met? Our anniversary?" he asked.

"We are getting a divorce, doesn't it just further our cover if you can't remember that information? Isn't that what wives get on their husbands for forgetting?" She asked relaxing further on the bed.

"Not my ex-wife, my crimes were far more serious according to her" he replied sitting down next to her.

"Well it seems to happen on TV at least and if people see it on television they believe it in real life. Fortunately or unfortunately I wouldn't know I was only married for five minutes didn't have time to forget anything." She told him, she hadn't meant to admit that much to him but it just seemed to slip out.

"I didn't know you were married" he exclaimed in surprise.

"I was young and stupid, it officially lasted five months but three of them were spent getting the divorce." She informed him, she didn't really want to talk about it, she preferred to pretend it never happened.

"Is that all you're going to tell me?" he pushed.

"Do you want to talk about your failed marriage?" she countered.

"Other than to say I got two wonderful children out of it, no not really" he admitted quickly.

"Neither do I" she confirmed with a nod.

"Sorry I didn't mean to pry" he apologized.

"No, it's okay just not something I like to think about" she replied softly unsure why she had even said anything about it in the first place.

"I completely understand. What I don't understand is how a week here with me playing golf and you enjoying the pool and spa is supposed to save our marriage? We are spending most of the week apart." He asked returning to their previous topic, which she greatly appreciated.

"I don't know either, maybe the idea is if we relax during the day we will like each other more at dinner? I honestly have no idea but the brochure says it is a _great place for couples who have drifted apart because of the demands of everyday life_ " she replied reading the pamphlet that had been sitting on the nightstand.

"But we don't have to go to some type of couple's therapy correct?"

"No just golf" she assured him looking at the glossing pictures of their home for the next week.

"Good, cause I can tell you it didn't work for me the first time. And we would need to come up with an extensive back history, those therapists ask a lot of question." He informed her letting out a sigh. He was clearly happy to share the bits of his private life which surprised her slightly, yet she wisely didn't point this out to him. Instead she filed the information he had just given her away in her brain in case she ever needed it.

"Okay ground rules, I make up any history we need and you just say you don't remember" she suggested sensing a possible issue for the week.

"Okay" he confirmed with a nod of his head. "We don't have children correct?"

"No just the two of us, no kids, no pets, we work too much" she decided it was far easier that way.

"Simply to remember" he replied as if reading her mind.

"Exactly we don't offer up too much about ourselves, the less the better."

"Good plan, how long have we been married for?"

"Um…" she thought about it for a moment deciding on a number. "Eleven years, nice off number looks more believable?" she suggested. When people made things up they always seemed to stick to the fives and tens.

Agreed, eleven it is and you really don't golf?" he asked again.

"Absolutely not and hopefully neither does Anne Bennett." She moaned, the idea of having to golf was the worst possible scenario.

"What if we don't get anything this week?" he asked hesitantly.

"Then I really hope I don't have to golf" she groaned throwing her head back on the pillow. In all honesty she had no idea what they would do if this week didn't produce something useful.

"Right how long do we have till dinner?" he asked looking down at her.

"An hour or so, I really wish I hadn't let those three convince me we needed to wear wires." She complained at the idea of having to hide one under her evening gown.

"At least you only have to wear one to dinner, I have to wear one while golfing as well" he reminded her.

"I can't very well go swimming or to the spa while wearing one" she countered.

"True, we wouldn't want you getting electrocuted" he acknowledged with a slight laugh.

"Yes, thank you" she huffed.

"Just one other question, why no phones in this place? We don't even have a landline in this bungalow."

"Their rules, to cut down on distractions of the real world. The resort requests we not bring nor turn on our mobile phones. They are forbidden in all public places, they can't control what we do in here but they are discouraged." She tried to explain to him, it was the only real part of this resort that she hated.

"Is that why you told me to leave mine at home?"

"Yes thought it would be easier that way only one mobile to hide. We are pretending to be people we are not, our phones give us away and that makes them dangerous." She warned him though she wishes they could have a phone with them all the time it would make her feel safer. She had her phone to call her team to let them know when to turn on the wires and if they needed to communicate but it was to be used as little as possible.

"True" he agreed reluctantly. "Who knows maybe having to unplug from the digital world can be beneficial." He suggested trying to be positive.

"You mean except for the wires we are wearing?" she asked darkly.

"Good point, this will defiantly be an interesting week." He said with a sigh and she thought it better not to respond. "I'm going to have a shower before dinner" he informed her stand up after a moment.

"Have fun" she called closing her eyes trying to pretend she was not undercover sharing a room with her boss.

sssSSsss

"I think I might need help with this wire" Sandra told Strickland feeling quite embarrassed. With the evening gowns she had to wear to dinner there wasn't much clothing available to hide the wire. This meant it needed to be taped to her skin in places like her back, where she couldn't reach.

"Right, here let me" he offered taking the wire from her. She blushed as she stood there in front of him dressed from the waist down clutching a towel over her chest. A shiver ran through her when he touched her back securing the wire with some fashion tape.

"Sorry are my hands cold?" he asked concerned.

"Just a little but it's okay thank you for helping." She replied trying to cover for her reaction to his hands on her.

"I-I think you can do the rest" he stuttered slightly as he wrapped the wire around towards her breasts.

"Ah yeah I think I can, thanks" she agreed taking the device from him and making her way into the bathroom.

She closed the door and let out a giant breath, the reaction she had to a simple touch from Strickland surprised her.

"It really has been a long time" she sighed taping the wire to her skin. "This I going to be a long week" she moaned as she finished dressing. She looked up at the mirror to find her face was flushed and she hoped he hadn't noticed. Sandra took another deep breath and then having no other option she left the bathroom.

"Dinner?" he asked offering her his arm.

"Yes please I'm starving" she replied gladly accepting it. She sent Gerry a quick text telling him they were on their way to the dining room before tossing her phone on the bed as they headed for the door.

A/N Thank you so much for reading and I really hope you are enjoying it so far!


	3. Chapter 3

**Undercover**

 _Disclaimer- I own nothing I wish I did but I just get to play with the characters_

Chapter 3

"Why don't these bungalows have televisions in them?" Sandra moaned flopping down on the bed. Dinner and drinks had yielded nothing but boring conversation. I was only 9:30 and they were already back in their room. They had both changed out of their dinner clothes and removed the listening devices. She had a quick phone conversation with Gerry and now they were both trying to find some relaxing way to spend the rest of the evening.

"I think it is to encourage couples to spend time with each other. It's meant to be romantic, there weren't televisions on the Love Boat" Strickland pointed out. He was now sitting next to her reading one of the golf magazines that had been in the room when they arrived.

"This is not the Love Boat" she countered rolling her eyes. "And it is too early to go to bed."

"You could read a book" he suggested.

"I don't think I brought enough books to make it through the week." She sighed grabbing one of her books off the night stand.

"I am sure you will survive" he commented from his side of the bed. She chose to ignore him, he was only making her more annoyed and if she did respond she would only snap at him. Sandra lay there trying to focus on the words instead of her desire to be doing something to solve her case.

"I believe the weather should be sunny all week so you can at least enjoy the pool during the day." He told her after a few minutes of silence. She continued to ignore him, he didn't seem to understand that women spent more time lounging by the pool than actually swimming in it. Yet she didn't feel that she was obligated to explain this to him.

"We could go over the case if you would prefer?" he asked a few minutes later breaking the silence once more.

"You're the one who told me to read" she huffed looking up at him completely annoyed now. He already had the case file in front of him but she glared at him instead.

"Sorry I thought you didn't want to read" he apologized weakly.

"I'm reading" she exclaimed holding up the book in her hands.

"True" he replied suddenly unsure of himself.

"I know that case file from front to back, but it might be good if you looked it over more closely." She suggested trying to come up with something for him to do as she looked back down at her book.

"Yes I will, good idea" he agreed happily. They fell into silence once more but it only last for about five minutes.

"Sandra have you read this?" he exclaimed looking up at her in dismay.

"Seriously?" she sighed glaring at him. "What did I just say?" she growled, the man didn't actually seem to be listening to a word she said.

"Charles Bennett is believed to dismember his victims" his voice rose in alarm.

"Yes I know" she replied flatly.

"His business partner is only the latest murder he is suspected of" he added very concerned.

"Yes I know" she repeated.

"And he is very violent toward woman, or is suspected of being."

"Yes I know" she sighed in frustration.

"This, this is the man we are spending this holiday with?" he demanded.

"We actually aren't on holiday Bennett and his wife are" she reminded him.

"Are you sure it is safe to be doing this?"

"We're the police" she exclaimed at him once more this time in confusion.

"Yes I know but this feels dangerous" he countered.

"Isn't most undercover work dangerous? Isn't that why I wasn't allowed to come here on my own?" She cried, she didn't understand the man. What did he think they were doing?

"Yes true" he sighed very unhappy with the answer but having no other choice but to agree.

"Are we talking or are we reading?" she asked. She was tired of being interrupted especially for questions that should have been asked before they ever got here. They were staying the week now there wasn't much to be done about it.

"I'm not sure it is a good idea for me to keep reading this." He replied closing the file and setting it on his own night stand. "But the silence feels…"

"Awkward?" she said proving the missing word.

"Yes" he exclaimed in relief.

"That is why I wish we had a TV" she grumbled.

"Yes but then we would be arguing over what to watch."

"Oh no we wouldn't, I would have complete control over the remote. I am not about to let you put on golf or football, or even worse Rugby. That game barely makes sense." She told him with a determined look in her eye.

"I could explain the game to you?" he offered foolishly.

"Are you looking to survive the night?" she asked him with a threatening look.

"Forget I said anything" he replied quickly.

"Wise choice" she grinned looking back down at her book. She thought they were done talking but she was quickly proven wrong again.

"This is going to be a very long week here just with you" he groaned.

"Don't make is sound like torture or a punishment" she replied angrily rolling over so her back was facing him. She was now more determined to ignore him for the rest of the night.

"No I didn't mean it that way" he replied immediately but she firmly chose to not respond.

She hadn't been thrilled at the prospect of pretending to be married to him for a week. Yet she didn't see it as a prison sentence and she didn't think it felt that way to him either. Clearly she had been wrong. She didn't want to care about what he thought but it was hard not to be hurt by his statement. Sure she knew she could be forceful with her ideas and actions during an investigation. But she didn't think that made her undesirable to be around. She suddenly missed her boys more than ever. They may have been annoying at times but they never treated her the way Strickland just had.

"Sandra I didn't mean it the way it sounded." He tried once more a few moments later but she proceeded to keep ignoring him.

"Please Sandra I'm sorry" he apologized but she wasn't in the mood for an apology and she continued to give him the cold shoulder.

"I only meant you and I having to stay here for a week…it's going to be hard for us…for me here with you…without any…it's going to be a long week…or a hard week…I mean it won't be easy…no I mean…I don't know how I'm going to get through this week…NO wait…Christ." He stuttered along each statement worse than the last.

"Oh please go on telling me how hard this week is going to be for you stuck here with me." She yelled standing up and throwing her book on the bed. To her great delight it bounced and hit Strickland in the chest. She was about to stock off to lock herself in the bathroom when he bolted off the bed and blocked her direct path.

"Sandra no please wait. I'm sorry that all came out wrong. I wasn't trying to offend or insult you in any way, that is the very last thing I would ever want to do. Please forgive me." He begged her apologizing profusely. Sandra didn't say anything but she didn't try and get around him either. She did have to spend the week with him and this wasn't exactly the best way to start out. After a moment she nodded encouraging him enough to continue.

"What I was trying to say and failed at completely was that it will be a long week for both of us if we can't manage to talk to each other about something other than this case. I realize we don't talk much about things other than work. Or at least we haven't in the past. I think that might need to change." He said successfully managing to explain his thoughts far better this time. As he spoke her anger began to dissipate.

"I suppose you are right, we don't really talk much" she conceded and he was right the week would go faster if they managed to get along with each other.

"Please come sit back down on the bed. I know married couples about to get divorced don't talk to each other. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try and have a conversation." He begged her not moving from his spot in front of her, his eyes told her he was still afraid she would continue to walk away.

"Yeah okay…alright" she agreed walking back and sitting on the bed.

"Thank you" he said with a relieved sigh. He returned to the bed only once she was sitting. "Here you might want this" he told her handing her book back to her.

"Thanks, I didn't mean for it to hit you" she replied accepting the book.

"I'm sure you weren't upset when it did though" he countered with a smirk.

"No I wasn't" she admitted with a slight smile.

"I don't blame you. What did you say a few hours ago? I can be annoying and it's true. Though you did promise to yell at me when I got that way. I must say you are falling down on the job you barely raised your voice at all." He joked and she couldn't help but laugh.

"I believe I promised I would get good at yelling at you, it is only the first night, it is a work in process. I also thought it was a bad sign if we got into a shouting match on the first evening." She replied relaxing a bit as she reclined on the pillows.

"That is a valid point, I will expect you to be yelling at me as if you were to be my future ex-wife by the end of the week." He told her in a mock seriousness.

"I will do my best… sir" she added the last part just to tease him.

"Robert, you are going to have to call me Robert or people are going to think we have a very strange marriage" he pointed out.

"True, sorry it just feels a little strange" she explained blushing a little.

"I'm sure you will get used to it. Though if we are going to be getting a divorce you might also want to get used to call me—idiot, moron, asshole, bastard, and son of a bitch—my real ex-wife sure did." He added darkly.

"I take it the divorce was not amicable?" she asked with a wince feeling bad for him.

"No actually the divorce was quite amicable, the deterioration of my marriage was not. Honestly I think dividing up out assets and the children made us feel as though we had something productive to do. Best we gotten along in months, years possibly. Very strange I know we are quite civil to each other now don't worry even the kids prefer us divorced." He tried to assure her that everything was now alright.

"I guess that is a good thing" she agreed giving him an encouraging smile.

"It is, so what about your divorce good or bad?" he asked.

"Somewhere in between. There wasn't much to split up we were both more embarrassed than anything. You ever have a relationship and everyone you know especially your friends say it isn't a good match, that you aren't suited for each other?" she asked. He had opened up and began to share with her, she felt the least she could do was open up a little to him.

"Yes you ignore them for about two weeks and then one morning you suddenly see exactly what they see and get the hell out of the relationship as fast as you can." He answered her with a laugh.

"Yes exactly" she agreed.

"You didn't do that, though did you?" he asked.

"Nope, instead we went on a holiday to Spain and came back married. Took two months to see the light and three months to get divorced and fix our mistake. Not a good time, though I only met him because it wasn't a good time in my life. He was sort of the rebound guy after I slept with my good friend's boyfriend." She explained to him feeling her cheeks flush from embarrassment.

"Ouch" he grimaced.

"Yeah I wasn't a great friend" she admitted.

"I know how you feel. I slept with one of my good mate's girlfriend."

"Really what happened?" she asked surprised to find out he had committed a similar offense.

"Nothing exactly, they got married, still are married I believe."

"Did he ever know?"

"I can't see how he didn't, everyone else did. Yet if he knew he never said a thing. I haven't seen either of them in a very long time and I can't say I am eager to now." He admitted and she knew exactly how he felt. "What about you, ever run into either of them?"

"No not for a while, my friend died, she was killed over twenty years ago and six years ago I arrest him for her murder. It ended up being a UCOS case one of the early one." She explained to him, solving that case had made her feel a little better about the whole situation.

"I'm sorry…I firmly believe certain things belong in the past" he replied making her feel a little better.

"I can agree with that."

"Right, I suggest we talk about something less depressing no more talking about divorce." He told her with a determined smile.

"I am more than happy with that idea, though since we are pretending to be getting a divorce it might keep cropping up." She warned him. "So what do you suggest we talk about?" she asked grinning again.

"Well now that you asked I can't think of anything" he laughed awkwardly and he seemed far from the stuffy DAC she knew at the office. Now he seemed unsure of himself, he said all the wrong things and was actually quite nice.

"Well don't look at me, I'm use to Brian spouting off trivia whenever there is an awkward silence or sometimes just when there is silence." She countered laughing at the thought of the older man's antics.

"How come Brian is never around when you need him?" he joked.

"Oh no, I don't even want to think about what he might say if he were here. Probably something gross about hotel rooms or worse he would find some statistics on golf." She warned him, the man might be a genius but he didn't have a filter or the understanding of what was appropriate sometimes.

"That is true." They were silent for a moment though this time it felt slightly more comfortable. "I would like to apologize for the things I said when Jack left for those few weeks. I shouldn't have said most of what I said. Furthermore I shouldn't have pushed you the way I did. I highly regret it now, I'm sorry." He said much to her surprise, she had never expected him to apologize for the events from over six months ago.

"I appreciate that, I think we both said things we wish we hadn't. So I'm sorry too. I'm sorry I threatened to find a new job." She replied willing to admit she hadn't acted as mature as she should have.

"I'm sorry I threatened to not give you a reference." He added hanging his head a little.

"Water under the bridge it's in the past now. Though you should know I wasn't happy with what Jack did, disappearing like that." She felt it important that he knew she didn't approve of what the older man had done.

"I know you didn't and I know it hurt you when he just took off the way he did. And I made it worse."

"It didn't help I will admit, but Jack came back and those three have returned to annoying me as usual" she said with a laugh. She might complain about them but she would be a little lost without them.

"I am happy he came back" he replied softly.

"I never thought otherwise" she assured him with a smile. She watched him relax a bit, clearly the subject was one that had weighed upon him. It did feel that they were slightly clearing the air on their past indiscretions.

"What time do you start golfing tomorrow?" she asked him desperate to find something less serious to talk about.

"I believe we have an eleven o'clock tee time" he replied.

"So that is when you will start golfing?" she asked looking for some clarification.

"Yes we will start the round of golf at eleven. Most people will show up early to practice a little on the driving range and the putting area." He explained further and she understood enough about the mechanics of the sport thanks to Gerry and Jack and this time she didn't need too much additional information.

"Like a warm up?"

"Yes, it is a warm up" he laughed lightly. "I will probably head over around 10:30."

"And did you bring some appropriately ugly clothes to wear while golfing?" She asked teasing him lightly.

"This isn't the seventies anymore Sandra the clothes are not ugly." He told her shaking his head.

"I am slightly disappointed, though I guess Tiger Woods doesn't wear ugly clothes." She had this image of him in terrible plaid shirts but clearly that would not be happening.

"Why is it every woman seems to only know about Tiger Woods?" he grumbled.

"He is one of the best isn't he? It isn't my fault he is always being talked about on the news. The shoes are still ugly though even the ones he wears." She added slightly excited at the idea that he would at least be wearing ugly shoes.

"We are not all Tiger Woods and the shoes look fine." he argued slightly put out by the mention of the famous golfer.

"Look you want the truth? Women mention Tiger Woods all the time because that is the only name anyone knows. The people on TV say it all the time and it is really easy to remember, sort of stands out. I bet you even when he isn't winning any more he will still be the one people remember. And the shoes are ugly." She tried to explain that it wasn't a personal thing Tiger Woods was just the name that stuck in the mind.

"I guess I can see your point. How many people are named Tiger? I seriously think the shoes are fine they are not ugly."

"That's because you have to wear them."

"Fine they can be ugly though I'm not saying that because I agree but simply because I believe it makes you happy to think they are ugly." He conceded and it was enough for her.

"Thank you" she said with a huge grin.

"Oh read your book" he grumbled and she began to laugh. He tried to continue being grumpy but after a few moments his resolve broke and he began to laugh as well.

Maybe the week wouldn't be too bad after all, she thought.

A/N Thanks for ready, hope you like it so far!


	4. Chapter 4

**Undercover**

 _Disclaimer- I own nothing I wish I did but I just get to play with the characters_

Chapter 4

The first time Sandra woke up there were a few weak rays of sun light pushing through the darkness. The clock read 5:41 and she let out a content sigh when she realized she could go back to sleep for several more hours. It was Sunday morning and she was pretending to be on holiday. People on holiday didn't get up early except maybe at Disney World.

As she began to fall back asleep she noticed something else, Strickland's arm was draped lightly over her hip. Sometime during the night, they had clearly moved closer together and he had protectively put his arm over her. She might have given it more thought and concern if it wasn't so early and she wanted to sleep. So instead of removing it she simply closed her eyes and went back to sleep it was only an arm after all.

The second time she woke up was an hour later according to the clock. She immediately noticed a change, she was now alone in bed, looking around she found Strickland dressed in running clothes. He was about to pop a pair of headphones into his ears when he noticed her staring at him.

"Sorry I didn't mean to wake you" he apologized.

"Are you going for a run?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yeah they have a running trail" he replied.

"But it is quarter to seven on a Sunday?" she told him confused.

"I woke up and felt like a run. Go back to sleep I'll be back in an hour or so" he explained before he left the bungalow.

"It's Sunday" she moaned rolling over and stretching out in the now empty bed. She though he was crazy and was more than happy to go back to sleep once more.

The third time she woke up the clock read 8:57 and she heard the shower turn off. She sat up and stretched before relaxing against the pillows allowing wakefulness to take over. A few minutes later Robert came walking out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around his waist and his hair still dripping wet.

"Good morning" he greeted her happily as he picked out some clothes.

"Morning, how long did you run for?" she asked curious.

"I ran for an hour than walked around for a bit getting a feel for the place. It really does stretch out over a large area of land. I'll be dressed in a few minutes do you need the shower?" he asked walking back towards the bathroom.

"I'm spending the day by the pool, I don't think I need to shower for that." She replied stretching once more.

"Okay" he called from the other room. "We can go to breakfast whenever you want" he added.

"Ah…give me ten minutes" she called back. Sandra jumped out of bed and quickly threw on some clothes before he could return.

"How did you sleep?" he asked when he came back into the main room dressed in his golf clothes. To her dismay they were not ugly just khakis and a polo shirt.

"I slept surprisingly well, that bed is deceptively comfortable. You?"

"The same, I'm not sure the last time I slept that well" he added.

"Just remember we are not actually on holiday" she told him with a grin as they headed for the door.

"You don't have to worry about me, after reading that file last night, it will be hard to forget the type of man I am golfing with." He assured her emphatically as they left the bungalow.

"I don't expect him to become violent but if he does get away from him. Jack will be listening and he should call for back up." She warned him, she didn't want him to get hurt in anyway.

"Don't worry I can take care of myself but I appreciate the concern" he replied with a smile.

"This is to be light undercover work, we aren't supposed to be in a lot of danger," She reminded him softly as they walked to the main building where the dining room was. No one was nearby but just to be safe she kept her voice down.

"I understand and men like Bennett don't usually out right attack people in the middle of a golf course" he added.

"That doesn't actually make me feel any better" she replied looking over at him.

"Relax Sandra at least look like you are on holiday" he suggested as they approached the building.

"Technically we are here to salvage our marriage, so I have every reason to look upset." She countered but she couldn't help smiling.

"Valid point, but don't worry I am sure we are both very safe" he reassured her as they entered the dining room.

"I hope you're right" she said softly to herself as she followed him to their table.

sssSSsss

"Well that was a complete waste of an entire day" Sandra exclaimed loudly as she threw her bag on the bed in anger. Dejected she collapsed into the only chair in the room and began to brood.

"What happened?" Robert asked popping his head out of the bathroom. He was in the middle of shaving and half his face was covered in shaving cream.

"Nothing happened that's that problem" she growled folding her arms over her chest.

"Could you be a little more specific?" he asked her gently.

"Anne Bennett barely spoke to me the whole day. Not that she paid much attention to anyone else. I can't find a way to get her to engage me, she seems determined to ignore everyone and everything. She is like a stone wall." Sandra complained to him becoming frustrated once more.

"It is only the first day give it time" he suggested from his place back in the bathroom.

"This is a waste of time, I could be doing actual work instead of sitting by a pool being stonewalled by Anne" she huffed.

"Sandra I have always admired your dedication to the job but maybe this once you should try and relax." He suggested walking out of the loo clean shaven and free of shaving cream.

"How can I relax when I am meant to be putting Charles Bennett in jail?" she asked him upset.

"Try or at least pretend to be relaxing. Act disinterested in Anne, you would be surprised how many people suddenly become interested in someone when they aren't paying attention to them." He suggested with a smile.

"That sounds more like dating advise" she countered.

"Please just try and act like you are on holiday" he begged her.

"Fine" she agreed with a sigh. "How are you getting on with Charles?" she asked him still unhappy.

"It's going alright we are getting on well enough but most of our talk is just small talk nothing serious yet. Certainly nothing that will help your team and this case. But I am hopeful." He replied and his positivity only upset her more.

"Well why do I even need to be here then?" she huffed.

"This is a couple's resort and you can't pin the hopes of your whole investigation on my conversations with Charles. The wife is actually the better option, if you can get her to open up to you then you could likely bring her in and get her to turn on him." He reminded her, she knew all this she was just in a petulant mood and was taking it out on him.

"If I can get her to talk, Christ right now I can't get her to ever notice me" she grumbled.

"Be positive" he replied evenly.

"You be positive I'll be realistic" she shot back.

"Well there is always dinner" he prompted her.

"I know and I am starving. Bloody hell I hate having to wear that wire." She whinged standing up and retrieving the offensive equipment and placing it on the bed.

"It is a means to an end. Why don't you shower and change, I will help you put the wire on and we can go eat? I promise you will feel better once you have some food." He suggested and she had to agree it sounded like a good idea.

"Fine" she sighed and she set about doing just as he recommended. Less than half an hour later she sent Gerry a quick text telling him to turn their wires on and they were out the door.

sssSSss

"If we keep eating food that good none of my clothes are going to fit by the end of the week." Sandra moaned as they walked back into their bungalow a few hours later.

"I feel exactly the same way" he sighed following her. She sent Gerry another text telling him they were back at the bungalow for the night. Normally she would have called him after they returned as she had done the night before. But tonight, she couldn't see there was anything they needed to discuss. Instead she collapsed on the bed feeling the exhaustion that comes from eating too much food.

"You should be happy Anne at least asked you a few questions, that is how you build a relationship." He told her as he joined her on the bed.

"I am happy even if they were just basic questions. But right now I don't ever want to move again let alone think about it." She whinged to him.

"I know how you feel, I am going to have to take an extra-long run tomorrow. That is if I can move off the bed." He added in as much distress as her. "You can come with me if you want" he offered.

"Running? No thank you, I will sleep instead" she replied rejecting his offer. She hoped he didn't feel as though she were rejecting him, that was not her intention. She simply had no desire to go running early tomorrow morning. In truth she had no desire to do anything early tomorrow morning, she planned to be blissfully unconscious.

"I don't blame you, I guess we know why they don't have a gym at this place. Why would anyone use it" he moaned to her and she couldn't help but smile knowing he truly did feel the same way she did.

"Think anyone will come looking for us if we don't show up tomorrow?" she asked him with a laugh.

"Nope" he replied shaking his head lightly. "We would probably be more comfortable if we got out of these clothes and removed our wires." He wisely suggested to her after a moment.

"I know but that involves moving" she complained to him once more.

"Would you rather sleep in them?" he countered sensibly.

"No…fine" she grumbled sounding petulant. With a great sigh, she rolled over so she was lying on her stomach. "Will you unzip my dress please?"

"Yeah" he agreed and a few moments past before she felt him pull down the zipper releasing her from the dress.

"Thank you" she said once he was finished. She took several moments to collect her strength and then forced herself up. Slowly she grabbed her pajamas and disappeared into the bathroom. She was moving very slowly and it took her twice as long as normal to change and remove her make up. By the time she climbed back on the bed Robert was already changed and reclining in bed.

"Now I really wish there was a television in the room" she commented.

"Why?" he asked confused.

"So that we could just lay here semi-conscious and listen to some show. I don't know about you but I don't have the energy to talk or read." She explained to him, she just wanted to drift into a food comma and never wake up.

"No you're right I don't have the energy either" he agreed.

"You aren't going to find it awkward or uncomfortable if we lay here in silence?" she teased him lightly.

"I won't, but are you sure you can actually remain quiet?" he countered playfully.

"Hey" she cried and jabbed him with her elbow.

"Ow" he exclaimed dramatically.

"You deserved it" she informed him.

"Okay, I can't argue with that" he agreed with a chuckle.

"Smart man" she replied and he only laughed harder. She decided she liked the sound of his laugh and she almost told him before she caught herself and held her tongue. Sandra lay there feeling slightly strange about the thoughts she was having and what she had almost said.

"What would you normally be doing right now?" he asked interrupting her thoughts.

"Sorry what?" she asked confused. She hadn't heard the whole question.

"It's Sunday night, if you were at home right now what would you be doing?" He asked again and she had to think for a minute.

"Sunday night? Probably relaxing with a nice bottle of wine watching something on the TV what about you?" She inquired slightly curious at the idea.

"I think there was a football match on tonight, so I would be on the sofa with a beer enjoying the game." He answered with a smile.

"Why doesn't that surprise me" she laughed.

"I don't understand?"

"Men and sports" she replied shaking her head.

"I know it might not be the most original answer but it is the truth. I enjoy other things as well you know. I go sailing-"

"Isn't that technically a sport? It's in the Olympics after all." She teased him a little, she couldn't resist he was making it a little too early.

"Okay fine there is the band, I go to the theater, I have taken my daughter to several musicals" he argued.

"What about opera?" she meant it to sound teasing as well but her genuine curiosity took over.

"Opera?" he asked slightly surprised.

"Yes opera" she confirmed.

"I could enjoy the opera, are you telling me you enjoy opera?" he asked even more surprise in his voice this time.

"I do, it has been a while since I had the opportunity but yes I do enjoy it. And that surprises you" she observed deciding if she should feel insulted.

"I am actually, if I had to guess I would have said you like classical music and possibly the ballet."

"I prefer it when they sing, don't worry I enjoy musicals as well" she told him with a laugh.

"I think it is brilliant, I confess I have always wanted to go see an opera I just never had someone to go with." He admitted to her and what she found shocking was that he couldn't find someone to go with him.

"If we survive this week I just might have to invite you" she told him before she could think her words through.

"I would like that" he replied and it made her stomach do somersaults which caused her feel rather uncomfortable after all the food she ate.

"That is if we can actually move" she reminded him with another laugh.

"That is a legitimate concern" he agreed chuckling even more.

"Okay I am going to use my last bit of strength to turn the light off. You okay with that?" she inquired.

"Yes I am quite happy with that" he willingly agreed. A few moments later the room was plunged into the darkness.

"Thank you" he added with a content sigh and she founds she felt exactly the same way, slightly full but completely content.

"I am only having fruit for breakfast" she moaned to him.

"You think that will counter that dinner we ate tonight?"

"It can't hurt. How much butter do you think was in those dishes?" she asked in dismay.

"You don't want to know it tasted too good to only include a healthy amount." He wisely pointed out only making her feel over indulgent.

"No pasties for breakfast" she told him.

"But they have such delicious croissants" he objected.

"Yes think how much butter they have" she countered.

"I know but they are so good" he whined.

"It's your arteries, I'm sticking with fruit…at least for tomorrow" she replied amending her statement slightly.

"I can agree to that" he confirmed causing her to smile.

"Okay I can sleep now that we have breakfast settled." She joked yet she did feel sleep coming on.

"Me too" he replied sounding content.

"Don't you dare wake me when you go for a run" she warned him.

"Wouldn't dream of it don't worry" he assured her.

"Good" she whispered.

A/N Sorry I'm a bit late updating today. Thanks for reading and I hope you are still enjoying the story!


	5. Chapter 5

**Undercover**

 _Disclaimer- I own nothing I wish I did but I just get to play with the characters_

Chapter 5

Sandra woke up alone once more Monday morning but this time she didn't wonder where Robert was. Instead she stretched out over the bed and managed to go back to sleep until the sound of the door opening woke her. She rolled over and watched him walk into the room covered in sweat.

"How was your run?" she asked sitting up and stretching.

"Good, I think I worked off some of that dinner. It is going to be a hot one today" he informed her removing the head phones from his ears.

"Don't you guys get hot standing there on the golf course all day under the sun?" she asked him. She got to spend the day at the pool if she got hot she could take a dip in the water but he didn't have the luxury.

"It can get hot sometimes and we do try and take a break here and there. But once you get focused on the game you don't even notice the heat much." He attempted to explain a golfers day to.

"Are you saying you get in the zone?" she teased him lightly. She realized she had been doing that a lot over the last day.

"More like we all get focused on winning" he countered.

"Good to know, now I won't feel guilty when I get to spend the day by the pool" she told him with a grin.

"Ha ha, I'm hopping in the shower before breakfast" he said to her disappearing into the bathroom.

Sandra had to marvel at how comfortable she was becoming around Robert Strickland. They hadn't even been at the resort for two days and things already felt completely different. She had initially been fearing this week, she thought it would be extremely uncomfortable living so closely with her boss. And true they had gotten off to a shaky start but very quickly all that changed. Not only were they comfortable, they were joking and relaxing around each other. She didn't even give their sleeping arrangements a second thought anymore. She was pleasantly surprised to find out he had a really good sense of humor and she was able to completely let go around him which truly amazed her. She had feared she would feel on edge during the whole week, never able to rest and relax. But the reality was quite different much to her delight.

She also felt guilty for not making more of an effort to get to know the man before this week. Sandra knew the fact that he was her boss had been a slight barrier and her team didn't always like him. Yet she shouldn't have let those silly things stop her especially because she knew her team could be wrong about people.

Now that she was at this resort, sharing a room and bed with the man she felt that she was only just starting to see who he really was. He was so much more than the image he portrayed at work. He was funny and smart and she really had begun to enjoy their time together. She knew the snide remarks her team would make if she ever tried to explain who Strickland really was to them. Yet she would never be able to look at him the same way again. And that was a good thing. Robert was kind and caring, he genuinely seemed concerned about her well being over the past two days. She suspected he had always been this way she just never paid close enough attention. He was a true gentleman and to her delight he didn't drone on about golf or other sports like most men and that included her team.

"Did you need the loo?" Robert asked her, his questioning words pulled her out of her own thoughts. Only then did she realize she had been standing there staring at her clothes for a while. Long enough for him to shower and he stood there wet in front of her wrapped in a towel.

"Ah…no…well I guess now that you're out I might as well." She replied trying to recover from her daze. She quickly grabbed at she clothes trying to find something to wear.

"You okay?" he asked concerned about her.

"Yes, sorry lost in thought" she tried to assure him.

"Anything serious?" he inquired as he ran a hand through his wet hair.

"No just thinking of Anne Bennett, hopefully she will talk to me today." She lied to him hoping he wouldn't push the issue.

"I am sure you will find a way" he reassured her.

"Hope you are right or this is going to be a long boring week at the pool." She sighed and it was a legitimate concern just not one she had been thinking about until that moment.

"I have faith in you" he replied with a smile.

"Thank you, give me five minutes and I'll be ready." She promised with a smile darting into the bathroom before he could say anything else. "And I'm only eating fruit" she called out loud enough for him to hear through the door. A moment later she could hear him laugh and it made her smile. She still couldn't help but think how good he looked wearing only a towel wet from the shower.

"Focus" she ordered herself softly and she shook her head trying to banish the inappropriate thoughts from her mind. Regaining her senses quickly changed for breakfast.

sssSSsss

"Sandra" Robert Strickland yelled as he entered the room.

"In the bathroom" she called back. "I have great news, Anne Bennett is finally talking to me." She continued as she put the finishing touched on her make up for dinner. "We bonded over out dislike of tennis and golf" she added happily. Sandra exited the room into the bedroom with a giant smile on her face. Yet she froze the moment she caught sight of Strickland and her smile disappeared. He was sitting on the edge of the bed hunched over his left hand on his right shoulder.

"What happened?" she asked suddenly becoming worried about him.

"I pulled something in my shoulder" he moaned, he didn't even bother to look up at her he just winced in pain.

"How did you do that?" she demanded.

"I sliced the ball the wrong way" he replied finally looking up at her with his eyes.

"I thought you knew how to golf?" she responded confused. How he could do it wrong?

"I do" he growled glaring at her.

"Sorry I just don't understand what happened?" she apologized she hadn't meant to offend or insult him.

"I hurt myself" he told her. It didn't help explain anything to her but she decided to let it go.

"Is it serious?" she inquired unsure what else to ask.

"I don't know" he replied.

"Do you need to see a doctor?"

"No" he moaned.

"Anything I can do?" she tried once more.

"No" he sighed and she watched as he tried in vain to massage his injured muscles.

"Why don't you let me do that?" she suggested. Before he could respond she climbed on the bed from the other side and knelt behind him.

"Okay" he agreed reluctantly and she set to work kneading the muscles with her hands and fingers.

"Has this happened before" she asked curious as she continued to work on his injury.

"When I was in Spain the last day" he admitted.

"And you didn't think to mention this injury?" she yelled at him in dismay.

"Ow Sandra softer" he cried out. In her dismay and slight unhappiness, she had become forceful with her hands.

"Oh sorry" she exclaimed pulling her hands back, she hadn't meant to cause him more pain. She hesitated before she put her hand's back on his shoulder, she was now completely aware of what she was doing and who she was touching. She gently kneaded her fingers into his skin.

"Okay you can use a little more force" he laughed shaking his head.

"Make up your mind" she joked but her laugh was stiff. She suddenly felt awkward touching him this way. She wasn't sure why she felt this way, true he was her boss but they were pretending to be married and sharing a bed. And yet at the same time she liked the feel of his body beneath her hands.

"I appreciate you doing this" he replied ignoring her joke.

"I'm happy to help, you are hurt after all. Are you going to be okay golfing the rest for the week? It's only Monday" she asked him still worried.

"Yeah I can push through it if necessary, just need to make sure I don't bet on my game." He assured her with a hollow laugh.

"You've been betting on your games with Bennett?" she exclaimed in shock and disbelief. Unconsciously she took her hands off him and put them on her hips in dismay and slightly grumpy at him.

"No" he laughed, it was a big laugh that shook his whole body. "Charles put the idea out there but I told him my wife would kill me if I gambled on our games. Good to know I was right." He informed her still laughing.

"Damn straight I would kill you, gambling with a murder suspect" she huffed squeezing his shoulder harder on purpose this time.

"Ow I'm sorry, I'm sorry" he cried through his laughs. "What did I do?" he whinged when she didn't immediately let go.

"That's was for thinking about gambling with that man. And this she said pushing her thumb into his shoulder a little harder for a moment as she spoke. "Is for laughing at my legitimate dismay at the idea." She growled as she continued to massage his shoulder with a bit of force.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry I didn't mean it" he exclaimed quickly and only then did she relax her grip. "Thank you" he sighed in relief.

"No betting or gambling" she told him firmly. He was just as bad as the three men she worked with which shocked her, she thought he would have been a little better behaved.

"I promise you have nothing to worry about" he assured her emphatically.

"Good" she said with a triumphant smile as she continued to work his tight muscles gently this time. "Is playing golf with this injury going to make it worse? I don't want to be responsible when you end up needing surgery on this."

"I should be fine, it might hurt a little but I can take a pill for that, I can't see it resulting in a tear. It will likely be a lot safer than letting you massage it when you are mad at me." He joked trying to lighten the mood.

"And you better remember that" she replied and she wished he could see the grin on her face.

"I will, I assure you I won't forget. A long hot shower should make it feel better" he added.

"If you want one before dinner you better do it now we only have an hour and I will need your help putting my wire on." She reminded him but she didn't take her hands away.

"Good point" he agreed with a sigh and after a moment he stood up and Sandra could see him wince as he moved. She felt slightly bad for squeezing his shoulder as tightly as she had. She also felt guilty that he had hurt himself while undercover for her team. Though she reminded herself, it wasn't as if he got shot, he only pulled a muscle playing golf.

He said he would be fine and she chose to believe him. She heard the water turn on and she moved to relax on the bed. It would be impossible to dress for dinner until he could help her with the wire. She knew she should call Jack and Gerry to check in and see if they were in position. Instead she laid her head on the bed and listened to the sound of the water falling in the shower. She didn't even realize she had fallen asleep until she woke to Strickland calling her name.

"Sandra?" he called shaking her lightly.

"Wha?" she mumbled opening her eyes disoriented. She looked up at him confused.

"You fell asleep, did you want to dress for dinner?" he asked trying to hide his smile and failing miserably.

"Oh yeah sorry" she replied sitting up rubbing her head a little trying to get rid of the fog.

"I thought you spent the day laying out in the sun all day" he teased her lightly and laughed.

"It's not my fault the sun makes you tired. So does constantly trying to get someone to talk to you without appearing pushy. You get to go out and play golf and everyone just starts talking. That doesn't happen at the pool." She informed him standing up.

"That is true" he agreed. "Though did I hear you say you got Anne to finally talk to you?"

"Yes we bonded over our mutual dislike of tennis, the other women tried to get us to play with them. Needless to say we did not join in." She told him with a laugh.

"Good we can compare notes after dinner, if you don't hurry up we'll be late" he reminded her.

"Never rush a lady" she countered taking her dress off the hanger.

"Would the lady like to put her wire on?" he asking holding the contraption out to her.

"No she wouldn't like to put it on but she will do it anyway" she sighed taking it from him and heading towards the bathroom.

sssSSsss

"Christ that man is horrible" Sandra exclaimed loudly as they walked into their room a few hours later. Before Strickland could reply her mobile phone began to ring and she grabbed it off the bed quickly answering it.

"Gerry" she said before received horrible feedback through the speaker, she jerked the phone away from her ear in pain and anger. "Turn the wires off before you call" she cried loudly rubbing her ear once the terrible noise ended.

"Sorry Sandra, but will you stop yelling you're killing my ears" Gerry yelled at her.

"Well you just tried to kill mine. Do you have something useful to say?" she growled at him, she was in a terrible mood and she didn't want to deal with him as well.

"For someone on holiday you are rather cranky" he grumbled back.

"We are not on holiday we are undercover having dinner with a horrible and terrible man. If you don't have anything useful to tell me I am going to take a long hot bath."

"I thought we might want to talk about the case, how things are going? Possibly go over anything useful you discovered." Gerry suggested quickly trying to react to her mood.

"Talk to Robert I don't have any more patience left" She cried and she practically threw her phone at the man and stormed into the bathroom slamming the door.

"Gerry?" Robert replied putting the phone up to his ear.

"What did you do?" Gerry asked him confused.

"I didn't do anything, you were listening. I didn't think I did anything, did I?" he questioned the older man. Gerry knew Sandra better than he did and he hoped he could explain to him what had just occurred.

"No I didn't hear anything that should have made her mad. You two spent the night getting close to your targets, successfully I would say. Charles seems to like you and it sure seemed like Anne and Sandra had begun to bond." Gerry replied giving him his positive assessment of the night.

"Then why is she upset?" Strickland demanded, he dropped onto the bed in frustration.

"You're guess is as good as mine and I'm an expert on upsetting woman."

"Maybe she will have calmed down when she comes out" Robert said hopefully.

"One can only hope for your sake sir, she tell you if she got anything useful today?" Gerry asked him returning to the case at hand.

"No she didn't get a chance we were nearly late for dinner."

"If you find out what she found out give me and Jack a ring in the morning…and if you don't- tell her to call us instead." Gerry instructed him after a moment of silence.

"Right" Robert agreed with a sigh.

"Good luck with Sandra tonight sir" the older man said. He clearly was eager to get off the phone.

"Night Gerry" he replied before the line went dead. "Great what do I do now?" he sighed once more before standing up to remove his shoes and dinner jacket, he pulled his bow tie apart and carefully took the listening device off and he then flopped down on the bed. There wasn't much else he could do until Sandra decided to come out of the loo.

After a few minutes it became clear to him that she intended to stay in the small room for a while. He searched the area with his eyes for something to entertain himself with and he came up with very little. He had already read through all the golf magazine that had been in the room when they arrived. Unlike Sandra he hadn't brought any books with him and he didn't want to risk angering her by borrowing one of hers. Robert would never admit it to Sandra but he too now wished there was a television in the room. On the bed all he found was a magazine that Sandra had left. It was _Vogue_ and he began to flip through it. The glossy pages were filled with woman in beautiful dresses, though except for a few written articles most of it looked to him as if it was filled with adverts. He didn't understand why people enjoyed looking at magazines like this, it certainly didn't provide him with much amusement.

sssSSSsss

Strickland was dozing with her magazine on his chest when she finally came out of the bathroom. For a moment she thought she might luck out and he would just sleep the rest of the night. Yet as she walked towards the bed she watched his eyes open a little and he looked at her. She ignored him and moved about the room hanging up her dress and putting her wire back in its box for the following night.

"What did I do?" he asked her sitting up and removing the magazine from his chest.

"Sorry?" she replied playing dumb while refusing to look at him.

"You have been as angry as a bear since we got back, you yelled at Gerry and you spent the last—" he quickly glanced at the clock before he continued. "Hour and a half in the loo?" he finished in shock. "What exactly where you doing in there for that long anyway?" he asked her.

"I was talking a long relaxing bath" she huffed sitting down on the bed next to him.

"Doesn't look like it worked" he commented.

"Shut up" she growled jabbing him with her elbow.

"Ow- sorry but after an hour and a half bath I don't think you are supposed to be wound tighter than a drum." He wisely observed earning him a glare in return. She wanted to just ignore him but he was right.

"What did I do wrong?" he asked again.

"Nothing" she sighed at him in annoyance.

"It's not nothing clearly, you are upset" he countered.

"I'm fine" she huffed back at him.

"You are not fine, would you please just tell me what is wrong?" he demanded.

"Fine, it's Bennett, he is a horrible human being, he does horrible things to people before he kills them. The way he talks to his wife is appalling, he has no respect for woman at all. And then you sit there talking and joking with him, humoring even joining in on his sexist and racist statements." She cried out becoming more and more worked up as she went alone.

"I didn't mean any of those things I said. I only said them to get the man to like me. That is the job at hand, we are undercover." He reminded her quickly trying to defend himself.

"I know, I know" she moaned.

"You can't think I actually believe all of that bollocks?" he exclaimed deeply troubled by the idea.

"No I know you didn't and that only made it harder to listen to you say all those things."

"That doesn't actually make any sense" he complained.

"I know it doesn't but it doesn't change the fact that it made me angry" she countered.

"Right, so have I done something wrong?" he asked confused.

"No you didn't" she sighed.

"Just so I understand, I did what I was supposed to do but you are still mad at me?"

"I'm not mad at you, I'm frustrated and you're not helping" she growled at him.

"Okay I'm going to stop trying to understand whatever is going on right now" he replied.

"That would be best" she agreed with a nod.

"I'm going to just get changed for bed" he suggested.

"Sounds good" she agreed once more and watched as he stood up. "Where you reading this?" she asked picking up her magazine and looking up at him.

"I don't know if reading is the right verb. I hope you didn't buy that for the articles." He called out as he entered the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Sandra could only laugh as she tossed the magazine on the night stand.

She didn't understand exactly why she felt the way she did, she had spent her entire long bath trying to figure it out. She had to refresh the water twice and she still couldn't come to any conclusion. They were undercover, she knew that, she understood that meant they both had to say and do things that they normally would not. If Jack or Brian had been the ones saying those sexist things she would hardly have batted an eye. So why was she so upset when Robert Strickland did it? She couldn't understand her feelings, they were hardly what anyone would call friends. She respected him that was true, they had shared lunch a number of times but only for work. There was no reason why she would or should feel this way and yet she had a visceral reaction to his words even though she knew they were not his true thoughts or feelings.

It confused her which only frustrated her more, she knew it wasn't fair to take her anger out on him, he hadn't actually done anything wrong. That was the reason she locked herself in the bathroom to calm down. But it hadn't worked, she continued to hear the words he said over and over in her mind. With a sigh she grabbed her book and tried to read hoping it would provide her with a much needed distraction. She tried not to look up when she heard the bathroom door open.

"Ah Gerry asked you to give him or Jack a ring tomorrow morning." He told her and only then did she look up from her book.

"Any particular reason why?" she asked slightly confused. They didn't usually talk in the morning their phone conversations were kept limited to the afternoon and evening so as not to raise any suspicions.

"Since we didn't have time to talk before dinner I couldn't tell him if you found out anything from Anne today." He explained climbing onto the bed next to her.

"Oh okay" she replied.

"Did you learn anything?" he asked her carefully.

"No not really, she is sick and tired of her husband and is divorcing him. They didn't actually come here to try and fix their marriage. Charles has some sort of arrangement with the owner and manager Samuel Ellis or something to that effect. She wasn't very clearly, I'll have Brian dig around see if he can find anything. All the rest was just small talk." She informed him, it wasn't much but she had been ecstatic that Anne and finally decided to be friendly with her.

"Well that is better than nothing, she seemed friendly with you at dinner" he observed casually.

"Yes likely had something to do with our shared disgust as her husband's horrible comments" she replied.

"Speaking of which, am I forgiven? Because I promise you I don't personally believe any of that stuff. I certainly don't believe women are best when kept to the kitchen, I believe no one is better than anyone else and men certainly are not the masters of the universe." He told her as if he was professing his innocence. It was unnecessary but she would be lying if she said it wasn't nice to hear him say those words pushing his earlier comments out of her mind for good.

"I'm not mad at you and I certainly never believed you agreed with any of those horrible things he said." She assured him, she needed him to stop apologizing, he really had done nothing wrong. "I was frustrated having to sit and listen to Bennett and mad at myself for letting it affect me. We are undercover I know better than to allow something like this to happen." She admitted to him feeling bad for the way she had acted towards him.

"Actually it helped that you did, it made Anne like you more, it wasn't the wrong way to act" he assured her.

"But I should not have gotten that emotional" she argued.

"Maybe not but it is understandable."

"I don't know how you manage to act like you agreed with him. And you have to spend the day with him, eww that man is vile" she exclaimed.

"He is definitely not the type of man I seek to befriend. I am trying to focus on the idea of him in jail" he tried to explain.

"Not sure that is enough to get me through the meals with him."

"We will get him don't worry, this is a good plan you and your team have, don't doubt it now." He told her and she knew he was right. From the start she knew the hardest part would be getting the Bennett's to talk to them. And they both had succeeded in accomplishing that goal. She knew she should feel happy but she didn't and she didn't know why. She was in a bad mood and she couldn't seem to get rid of it. The cause of her mood wasn't self-evident and Sandra decided to blame it on the fact that she hadn't been alone for very long in almost three days. She was used to having evenings to herself, to relax and decompress.

"Maybe a good night's sleep will help you feel better" he suggested when she didn't say anything more.

"Hopefully, how is your shoulder doing by the way?" She asked him changing the subject.

"Alright, the drugs are only helping a but, it still twinges every once in a while." He replied stretching the injured limb a little as if testing it out.

"That's good, are you sure you shouldn't see a doctor or someone? I am sure the front desk knows one to call." She asked him still concerned about him.

"Nah I'm fine don't worry it's nothing serious" he assured her and she just rolled her eyes at him.

"I will pretend like I believe you" she replied.

"Thank you" he said with a smile.

"Is there some book you lot read called how to be a stubborn old man?" she asked his sarcastically.

"Yes, you can find it at any library or bookstore" he answered her flatly and she burst out laughing. "At least I managed to make you smile" he added.

"I won't be smiling if you actually end up seriously hurting yourself, please take it easy" she requested.

"I promise I will be careful, you don't need to worry" he reassured her and he reached out taking her hand. His sudden movement and physical contact took her by surprise.

"May-maybe" she stammered slightly. "If you let Bennett win he will like you even more" she suggested trying to ignore the feeling of his hand on hers. Clearly it had been a long time since a man had paid any attention to her because every time Strickland touched her she could fee a jolt of something go through her.

"What do you mean 'let him win'? He has been beating me soundly every day and I have been trying very hard. How do you think I ended up hurting myself?" he exclaimed.

"Ha, I knew it was more than just a normal injury. Why the hell did you try so hard if you knew you could get hurt?" she demanded.

"Because I wanted to beat him, even you can understand wanting to win" he grumbled.

"Yes of course but after working this case I would be more afraid of what might happen if he lost. He has a tempter" she reminded him.

"True I guess you're right survival is more important than winning" he reluctantly agreed.

"Yes I prefer you alive. I have never had the strong desire to recreate the film Ghost." She told him and as his eyes went wide she realized what she had said. "I mean I don't want to have to get a medium just to communicate with you" she added quickly hoping to cover her slip.

"I don't know it might be fun to travel around with Whoppi Goldberg." He countered with a laugh and she was thankful he didn't mention her first comment.

"She might feel differently, two police officers seem far less interesting that all those people in Hollywood." She pointed out with a laugh.

"No we're real people, film stars always love spending time with regular people" he objected lightly.

"That sounds like some bad reality TV show" she said laughing even harder at the idea.

"Maybe we can pitch it to someone and make a pile of money and retire" he joked.

"And do what? You and I both know there's nothing else out there for us" she pointed out.

"That's true, oh well fun idea" he sighed wistfully.

"I'll pass, I don't need to be on TV" she countered.

"I'm sure it isn't as much fun as it looks like being a star."

"Which part is the fun part?" she asked genuinely confused.

"As a man I refuse to answer."

"Yep deep down you are all the same" she said shaking her head as he laughed.

"You would be disappointed if we weren't" he argued.

"Would I? I don't think I would, you should feel free to give it a try and be different" she suggested.

"Maybe I will surprise you."

"I never knew you were such a tease but I won't hold my breath. Just promise me you will take it easy out there tomorrow, you're no good to me if you're injured." She asked him firmly and followed it up with a glare usually reserved for Gerry, Jack, and Brian.

"Yes ma'am" he laughed and she just shook her head at him again.

"I'm going to read till I fall asleep" she declared a moment later.

"Sounds like a wonderful idea but I will skip the reading and go straight to sleep." He said with a yawn.

"Why am I not surprised" she laughed opening her book once more.

"Nothing wrong with being predictable. Some people call that being consistent."

"Sure they do" she replied with mock seriousness as she watched his eyes close.

"Don't forget to call Gerry tomorrow morning" he barely managed to get the words out between his yawn.

"I will thank you" she assured him but she wasn't sure he even heard her.

A/N Thanks for continuing to read this story!


	6. Chapter 6

**Undercover**

 _Disclaimer- I own nothing I wish I did but I just get to play with the characters_

Chapter 6

As Sandra willed her eyes to open she glanced at the clock to find it was already 8:46. She decided she could get use to sleeping in late and she moved to stretch. It was only then she realized Robert was still in bed with her and once again his arm was draped over her hip.

"Morning" he mumbled before slowly removing his arm as she pretended not to notice it at all.

"You didn't go for a run this morning?" she asked in surprise.

"Nope slept like the dead, you are definitely right the sun does make you tired." He whinged slightly but made no move to get up.

"And you laughed at my nap yesterday" she replied pretending to be insulted.

"Sorry, do we have to get up?" he grumbled.

"If you want food before you golf you do" she reminded him stretching once more before sitting up.

"I am going to need to debate that in my head for a few minutes" he replied.

"Oh get up" she cried smacking his arm lightly. "You will be grumpy if you don't eat something and you are golfing with a suspected violent criminal. Plus, I bet you need to take another pill for your shoulder." She told him wisely knowing it would be hard for him to argue with her.

"I do now that you hit it" he moaned dramatically.

"Stop being a baby, you shouldn't take medicine on an empty stomach."

"Do you enjoy being right all the time?" he growled at her his eyes still closed.

"Yes I do just ask Gerry, Jack, or Brian" she replied with a grin. "Remember they have those croissants" she added trying to bribe him to get up.

"Fine I'm going to take a shower" he mumbled sitting up for a moment before she watched him walk into the bathroom all hunched over. She just continued to laugh at the scene.

sssSSsss

"Yes Gerry it is possible she doesn't know anything about her husband's business but I would wager she knows bits of what he has been up to and what he has done. She isn't completely in the dark." Sandra stood in the middle of the bungalow talking on her mobile to Gerry shortly after breakfast. Robert had already left and she had changed into her swim suit,she was hoping her phone call with the older man would be over soon so she could get to the pool.

"I agree it sounds plausible but how can you be so sure about her?" Gerry asked arguing slightly with her.

"She is a smart lady, she isn't one to play dumb. She may not have asked him questions—in fact I'm sure she didn't. But she has her suspicions based on things he has said to her. I just need her to open up." She told him with a sigh, it was a slow process but she was now feeling confident that it could be done.

"Is that something someone shares while lounging in the sun?" he countered to her annoyance.

"Maybe, maybe not but I am going to try. She also mentioned something about getting a massage together this afternoon." She added trying not to become frustrated with him.

"It's a good thing we don't believe she is involved."

"Why?" she asked confused.

"Cause the spa would be a perfect place to kill someone."

"Great, thanks you for the image any other delightfully horrible pictures you would like to paint for me?" she grumbled at him.

"No I will save these for later" he joked.

"Thanks, why are you so concerned about what the Bennett's might and might not do now, lest I remind you, the three of you are the ones who pushed for this."

"Things feel more dangerous now after the way Bennett was speaking at dinner last night" he informed her.

"You know that was just postulating and you can relax I have always know how dangerous this whole thing could be" she argued brushing off his concern.

"Of course you did" he replied with a sigh.

"Are we done?" she asked flatly.

"No" he cried desperate for her not to hang up.

"What else?" she asked impatiently.

"So how is it going?" he asked his tone changed completely instead of being over protective and full of paternalism it was almost bubbly as if Gerry wanted to gossip.

"The pool is wet and the sun it hot" she told him not adopting his tone.

"That wasn't what I was asking. How are things going with Strickland?" he pushed her.

"Fine" annoyance flowing from her voice as she answered.

"That's all I get?" he replied petulantly.

"What do you want? I haven't killed Robert yet so that is a plus" she replied flippantly.

"So it's Robert now" he teased.

"He is pretending to be my husband what else am I going to call him?" she asked not rising to his bait.

"Yes but you are thinking of him as Robert not Strickland." He continued and she didn't like the way he said the other man's name.

"Oh grow up Gerry" she yelled at him.

"I'm sure it is lovely staying with him" Gerry replied sarcastically.

"He's a gentleman at least unlike you lot"

"Hey I can be a gentleman when I want to" he argued.

"And that would be the difference you never want to be one" she shot back at him.

"Haha you aren't planning to kill him anytime soon are you?" he asked grumpy now.

"No so whatever bet you and Jack made you are going to lose" she warned him.

"How did you know?" he demanded.

"You are that predictable Gerry. Now are you done, can we get back to work?" she demanded.

"Yes, you can go back to the swimming pool" he grumbled.

"Thank you" she hissed.

"Hey at least you should have a great tan by the end of the week." He told her and it sounded as though he was trying to apologize a little.

"What good is that if we don't get Bennett" she sighed in frustration.

"We'll get him" he tried to assure her.

"Jack is paying close attention to what he hears right? In case something happens out on the golf course?" She asked suddenly worried.

"Yes of course he is why?" Gerry asked.

"I just don't feel overly comfortable with Robert and Bennett being so far away from the resort together it's dangerous" she admitted.

"Strickland can take care of himself don't worry. And who kills someone on a golf course." He huffed disregarding her concern causing her to become annoyed once more, the man could be very sexist at times.

"Charles Bennett would" she reminded him. She might have suggested the exact opposite to Robert a day or so ago but she felt differently now.

"True…I will make sure Jack is keeping tabs on anything that sounds suspicious." He promised giving in and seeing things her way much to her relief.

"Thank you Gerry I appreciate it."

"Yeah, yeah, go on the sun is waiting" he brushed her off with a laugh before hanging up.

"Bye" she said with a sigh to the empty line.

sssSSsss

"I need to apologize" Anne Bennett said as she and Sandra lounged by the pool shortly after lunch. It was just the two of them and Sandra hoped the woman was going to open up about her marriage and her husband.

"Whatever for?" She replied genuinely confused by the woman's comment.

"For the things Charlie said last night. I know they were pretty horrible and I could see they upset you." Anne explained continuing to surprise her.

"I wasn't so upset with your husband I was more upset with Robert for agreeing with him" she replied honestly.

"Don't be upset with him, he was only doing it to please Charlie and maybe impress him a little. Either that or he was intimidated by Charlie. It happens all the time, everyone tells him what he wants to hear. They either need something from him or they are afraid of him." Anne tried to explain further and Sandra realized the woman was very observant. She hoped Anne wouldn't see thought her attempts at friendship as well.

"Still doesn't make Robert's comments justified, he is his own man." She huffed channeling her emotions from the night before to cover her own uneasiness at the topic.

"It happens to everyone when they are around Charlie, it's like a spell he puts people under. I can tell Robert didn't mean anything he said, he only agreed to be agreeable. And I know you said you are planning to divorce him but even I can see how much he loves you." The older woman informed her with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Really?" Sandra said softly completely taken aback by Anne's observations.

"Oh yes, I can see the way he looks at you when you're not looking. He has very expressive eyes, makes it hard for him to lie. He looks at you with eyes filled with love and devotion. I'm pretty sure he would do just about anything for you but you don't ask so he feels useless. I wish someone would look at me that way. If you ask me you two just need to spend some time together." Anne informed her and Sandra was completely shocked she didn't know what to think for a moment.

"How can we spend time together when he is golfing all day?" She asked responding with the first clear thought that came into her mind.

"That is what the nights are for, talking and sex" the other woman told her with a knowing look.

"We aren't doing much of either right now" Sandra admitted sticking with their cover, she wasn't sure what else she could say. She needed time to process what Anne had told her and this was not really the time nor the place to be having these thoughts.

"One will lead to the other I promise just try" Anne urged her.

"I will but what about you? How do you put up with all those comments your husband makes?" She asked changing the subject back to the older woman. Anne was the one who was supposed to be opening up to her and she didn't want to think about what the woman had said anymore.

"Oh I'm used to it by now" She assured Sandra. "And that is why I'm getting a divorce. I am the one person who does not fall for his charms. I have never nor will I ever simply tell him what he wants to hear. And he has always made an effort to be better with me. But lately things have changed. I think there is another woman or something else has his attention. I don't care it doesn't matter anymore." The woman told her firmly and Sandra could tell this was one wife who stood up to her husband all the time. A dangerous trait if one is married to a vicious murder.

"I'm sorry" Sandra replied, she was unsure what else she could say, marriage counseling was not a talent she possessed.

"It's okay, I'm ready for a change. If you do end up deciding to get a divorce, we should share a divorce lawyer I know a great one guaranteed to get you all the money." Anne informed her with a large grin.

"That's great" she replied hoping she sounded as though she meant it. Yet in reality the thought made her feel strange and wrong somehow. She tried to tell herself that it was simply because she wasn't actually divorcing Robert, she wasn't even married to him. Yet deep down it felt more complicated than the superficial answer she kept trying to convince herself was true. Everything to do with Robert felt more complicated, her feelings confused her.

"Come on let's go get a massage" Anne suggested sitting up. "I checked before lunch they have spots open for deep tissue massages it will feel wonderful." She promised as she stood up and collected her things.

"Sounds perfect" Sandra agreed eagerly standing up to joining her. A massage was exactly what she needed to take her mine off all her unwanted thoughts.

sssSSsss

The deep tissue massage did not help Sandra clear her mind, it did the exact opposite in fact. Sandra was left with more questions than answers about her feeling towards her undercover partner. On the positive side Anne did open up about her marriage to Charles even more. But most of it did little to advance their case. She did mention that he traveled a lot and had been traveling even more recently. Sandra made a mental note to have Brian look into all of Bennett's movements.

Sandra entered their bungalow and the room was silent. It was only mid-afternoon and she knew the place would be empty but the silence was almost suffocating. After their massage Anne said she wanted a nap and set off for her own bungalow. There was little point going back to the pool if Anne wasn't going to be there. Instead Sandra decided to return to her own room even though what she really needed was a distraction.

With a loud sigh Sandra flopped down on the bed. She couldn't stop thinking about what Anne had told her. The older woman said she could see love in Robert's eyes. Sandra knew in the past that Strickland had harbored feelings for her but she thought it was in the past. What was more surprising were her own emotions. She wasn't put off by the idea that he might still think of her that way and she certainly wasn't mad about it as she expected to be. In truth she almost felt happy about it.

 _Vanity_ she thought, it was true women enjoyed the idea that men wanted them. Yet she hadn't been flattered by his attention in the past, it had made her feel awkward. So why now? She thought about bringing it up to him, to tease him about it so they could both laugh it off. Yet the moment the idea came into her mind she pushed it away. She didn't want to see him brush the idea off. Honestly she was afraid of what she might see in his eyes. She didn't want to hurt him and if her teasing didn't hurt him then she was pretty sure she was the one who would feel hurt.

These thoughts and feelings confused her. She had been the one only days ago complaining to her team about having to go undercover with him. Sandra had to admit she didn't feel that way anymore. Now she couldn't imagine being here with anyone else. Also she wondered what Anne saw in her own eyes when she looked at Robert. She had lied to Gerry, she did think of him as Robert now. And part of her brain thought they were attached in some way now.

"It's probably because we are sharing this bungalow and a bed" she told herself aloud. But it didn't squash the weird feelings inside her. They made her want to run away and put as much distance between her and Robert as possible. She usually listened to those feelings but she couldn't, not this time, they still had three full days left at this place. And she felt that those three days might just drive her crazy.

"Shut up" she berated herself and she picked up her book forcing herself to focus on the words.

Robert returned about an hour later, he quickly greeted her before jumping into the shower. She was quiet while they dressed and he helped her with her wire.

"You okay?" he asked clearly noticing her change in behavior.

"Yes I'm fine" she replied softly.

"You sure? I don't know if I have ever seen you this quiet" he teased her lightly laughing but his laughter stopped when he noticed she wasn't laughing with him. "Is this still about last night?" he asked her.

"No, I don't know why I reacted the way I did, I'm sorry" she apologized.

"We're undercover no one said it would be easy" he assured her with a smile. "Are you feeling alright?" he asked when she didn't even smile back.

"Yeah…maybe a little tired but I'm fine" she replied but there wasn't much conviction in her voice and she could see he didn't believe her.

"Then did I do something wrong?" he pushed.

"No" she snapped at him before taking a calming deep breath. "I'm fine, that deep tissue massage was a little rough for me, things just hurt now. I didn't think you were supposed to hurt after a massage." She added rubbing her back for emphasis. It was the first thing that came to her probably because it was true.

"I guess they call it deep tissue for a reason" he said sympathetically.

"Remind me never to get one again. And I'm starving, how is that possible?"

"No idea but dinner awaits if you just give me a minute to finish tying this" he said fumbling with his bow tie.

"Take your time, I won't waste away don't worry."

"You better not" he joked with a laugh moving over to the mirror. She watched him quietly before she felt compelled to ask him the one question she couldn't get out of her mind.

"Robert can I ask you something?" she inquired breaking the silence.

"Sure" he replied as he continued to look in the mirror.

"Why did you agree to come here undercover with me?" Her voice sounded small in her own ears and she cursed herself, she had wanted to sound playful.

"The golf of course" he joked turning towards her with a giant grin. "Honestly?" he asked when he caught sight of her once more unsmiling face.

"Yes please" she replied with a nod.

"I don't get the opportunity to step away from my desk and get out in the field anymore. And I don't really get to be part of a team, upper management can get a little lonely you don't feel like you belong with any one team you just bounce around." He answered her and if she had hoped his answer would make her feel better it did not, it made her feel worse.

"Oh" she managed to get out as the guilt coarse through her mind and she was afraid for a moment she might actually cry.

"Look Sandra I know you didn't want to come here with me and you certainly weren't happy about it."

"No that-" she tried to argue.

"Sandra please, you and I both know it is the truth. And it's okay I understand." He interrupted her and he was so nice and calm about it she only felt worse because it was all true. She had been dreading this week with him from the moment the guys had told her.

"I was wrong to feel that way, I'm sorry. And you should know I don't feel that way anymore, haven't for a while now." She told him, it was very important to her that he knew her feelings had changed.

"That's good to hear, glad to know I'm growing on you" he joked.

"I really am sorry" she said again she wasn't exactly ready to be forgiven.

"Hey don't worry about it now come one you said you are starving and dinner awaits." He told her gallantly holding out his arm for her.

"Thank you" she replied gladly accepting it and they walked out of the bungalow together.

sssSSsss

Sandra watched as Charles Bennett slipped out of the room with Samuel Ellis. The two men seemed thick as thieves and she was sure that the owner of the resort was in league with Bennett. They whispered to each other as if they were partners in crime but she knew that Charles didn't have partners he had underlings and Ellis was defiantly under his thumb. She wanted to know what the two men were talking about in secret. She waited a moment and then followed the them out of the room. Robert noticed her change in direction and quickly followed after her. Dinner was over and people were milling around drinking and thankfully Anne didn't seem to notice that they were following her husband.

"Sandra" Robert whispered once they were alone in the quiet hallway. "What are you doing?"

"I want to know what Charles and Samuel are up to" she softly answered as she looked for the two men.

"How exactly do you plan to do that?" he demanded.

"By listening to them" she answered him as they approached Ellis' office. She could hear the two men talking. "Keep watch" she ordered him and moved as close to the door as she dared.

"You promised me you would handle this whole mess" Ellis exclaimed clearly agitated and scared.

"I am, I have, and I will continue to do so" Charles replied coldly.

"The police showed up at my door this afternoon asking about Alan's death. That is not what I call handling the situation." She had no idea her team had been to see Ellis today but that meant they clearly had discovered something.

"Don't talk to the police and they will eventually go away" Charles ordered him.

"If I don't talk to them they will start digging into this resort and there are things both of us would prefer they not find." Ellis shot back at him dangerously.

"Don't talk to the police, they will never find that information. I did a good job hiding it. They will never look that deeply at your charitable donations and your food invoices trust me." Charles told him almost sounding bored, he was clearly use to getting away with his crimes.

"What if they do find it?" Ellis asked still worried.

"If they get too close I will take care of them. You would be surprised how many people go on holiday and have accidents." Charles replied and his words made her blood run cold. She had underestimated this man.

"Sandra" Robert hissed. "Someone is coming" he warned her. She looked around frantically, the hallway was a dead end and their visitor was coming through their only escape route. Making a split second decision she grabbed Robert's hand and pulled him down the hall to the very end. He looked at her confused by her actions but she didn't have time to explain instead she pulled him close and kissed him. Her plan had only been to convince the person coming that they were simply snogging in a dark corner. But after a moment he kissed her back and suddenly the only thought in her mind was kissing him and how much she wanted to keep doing it. It was as if someone had set off a firework in her mind. The only sense she was aware of were his lips and hands as they moved over her body. His touch felt electrified and she wanted him to touch her everywhere. She moaned as he pushed her up against the wall and she no longer knew where she was or what she had been doing moments before. All she could think of was being with him. She thought she heard a faraway voice but she ignored it even when it got louder. But then suddenly to her dismay Robert pulled back taking his lips from hers and she moaned unhappy with this change.

"Excuse me" she heard a strange voice and she opened her eyes to find a tall well-built man standing next to them. They both looked at him in confusion as her mind began to work once more.

"This is a private area not open to guest I suggest you take this back to your room" he warned them in an unfriendly voice.

"I think you are right we should" Robert replied finding his voice first.

"Sorry we didn't mean to wander we weren't paying any attention to where we were going, we were a bit preoccupied." She replied trying to sound convincing as her brain reminded her of what they had actually been doing before they started kissing.

"Come on darling I need to get you back to our room right now." He said as the security guard continued to glare at them silently. Robert's voice sounded husky and she wasn't sure if he was acting or serious but she willingly took the hand he was holding out to her.

"I must say this place really works, we were going to get a divorce…not any more" Robert added with a grin.

"Come on" she said pulling him away. "He doesn't need to know all that" she continued as they quickly walked away. They rushed back to their bungalow as fast as they could. Sandra was too afraid to look behind her to see if they were being followed.

Once they were safely inside Robert pulled her close once more kissing her. She wanted nothing more than to continue kissing him but they weren't actually alone yet.

"Wait the wire" she whispered in his ear before pulling away. She was not about to give Gerry a show even if it was audio only.

"Gerry cut the wire feed I'm calling you" she told him firmly grabbing for her mobile that was hidden in the room.

"What exactly happened back there?" he asked answering her call a minute later.

"We got in a bit of a situation and we had to improvise a distraction" she admitted being intentionally vague.

"What did you do?" he pushed.

"It doesn't matter all that is important is that it worked. Now listen I heard Charles talking about hiding some of his wrong doing in the resorts finances, sounds like money laundering to me. Get all the financials for this place and tell Brian to pay close attention to their charitable contributions and their food purchases. That is where Charles said he had the money hidden." She told Gerry eagerly this was the first real solid lead they had for this case in days. If they could hold Charles on a financial crime they would have all the time they needed to prove he committed the murder.

"Right, good, I will get Brian on it first thing in the morning" he promised her sounding happy at their discovery.

"Good you should go on home we are done for the night here" she suggested using all of her control not to look up at Robert. If she did it would all be over and Gerry would know their secret.

"You sure that guy isn't coming after you still?" Gerry asked concerned.

"We are in out room and we are not going back out there till morning. I think we are perfectly safe. Plus, we are taking our wires off they are not exactly comfortable. Go home Gerry" she ordered him her patience nearly running out.

"Okay fine whatever you say. Have a good night and be careful" he advised her before he hung up much to her relief.

"That was a little close" Robert said once she was done with her call. He was standing very close to her and she looked up directly into his eyes.

"Too close if you ask me" she replied but she had a smirk of her face. They had almost gotten caught but that didn't mean she wasn't interested in getting back to what they were doing in that hallway.

"We should be more careful" he told her softly.

"I thought it went well actually, now where were we?" she asked giving him a seductive look.

"I believe I had you up against the wall, but I think the bed would be a preferable location." He said closing the small distance between them and pulling her into his arms.

"I agree but first I need help removing my wire" she reminded him and the twinkle in her eye was impossible to miss. "Would you be interested in helping me?" she added with a grin.

"Only if you will help me with mine" he countered with a grin of his own.

"Gladly" she whispered. He reached back and unzipped her dress allowing it to slide off her body and pool around her feet.

"You have far too much clothing on" she told him as she began to remove his bow tie. There was no way they would need a TV in their room tonight.

A/N I recognize the part where Sandra kisses Robert as a distraction is a bit on the cliche side (I blame James Bond) but honestly I just couldn't resist writing it. Also I felt that it fit with the thoughts and feelings Sandra was having leading up the kissing. Sorry if the cliche nature of that part bothers anyone but I really wanted to use it, I enjoyed writing it too much! Now all Sandra and Strickland need to do is survive the week without getting caught! As always thank you for reading this chapter hope you enjoyed it and thank you so much for the reviews!


	7. Chapter 7

**Undercover**

 _Disclaimer- I own nothing I wish I did but I just get to play with the characters_

Chapter 7

Sandra began to stir as the sunlight invaded their room through the gaps in the curtains. She felt well rested and completely relaxed for the first time in a very long while. And she knew the reason she felt this way was spooned up against her with his arm wrapped around her. She smiled to herself and let out a content sigh as memories of the previous night came flowing through her mind. She knew she should be more concerned about the fact that she had just slept with her boss while undercover. She should be freaking out and regretting what she had just done not lying there in pure contentment. But she found she couldn't regret what they had done no matter how hard she tried. To her surprise being with Robert Strickland felt so natural, it was a feeling she had never felt before. She did feel a slight nervous twinge hoping he felt the same way. A moment later she felt him nuzzle her neck and she moan in response as he peppered her skin with kisses.

"Did last night really happen or was it all a dream?" he asked between kisses.

"Would I be naked in your arms now if it was a dream?" she replied playfully.

"I don't think so" he answered her as he continued kissing her much to her delight.

"If you keep doing that you better be prepared to follow through" she warned him feeling the electrical spark between them begin to heat up once more.

"I was thinking this would be fun in that giant shower" he replied never taking a break from his tiny kisses.

"That does sound like a good idea" she moaned in agreement.

"Sandra you want this right?" he asked suddenly pulling away. "You aren't going to regret this when we leave this place?" She immediately felt the loss of his lips on her skin and she could feel the fear in his voice. It washed away all her nervous doubts about how he felt and she rolled over in his arms to face him.

"Logic would suggest that I should regret this or at least have concerns about how this will affect our professional relationship. But I have never regretted something less in my life." She assured him a giant smile on her face and she brushed some stray hair off his face.

"Thank god" he exclaimed softly. "I thought it was only me who felt that way" he added before kissing her rather passionately.

"We should remember we are undercover and Charles did threaten to make my team disappear yesterday. And I do believe that threat would carry over to you and me if he finds out about us." She warned him as a different nervousness ran through her once she remembered the other events of the night before.

"As long as we stick to our cover we should be good. Which raises the question are we still getting a divorce?" he asked unsure.

"No, you did tell that security guy last night that we were no longer getting one and we should probably stick to that for our safety at the very least. I also think our reconciliation helps our cover." She suggested thinking the whole thing through for a moment. "Plus I don't want to have to pretend to be mad at you and dislike you when all I really want to do is get you alone and take your clothes off." She admitted honestly, she was not a good enough actress to cover those feels at the moment.

"I am in complete agreement" he told her as his hands slowly explored her body.

"I'm sure you are" she laughed but did nothing to stop his explorations.

"I might need more details on our relationship the fabricated one" he suggested.

"No you don't, just because I'm not divorcing you doesn't mean you remember our anniversary" she laughed.

"That is very true" he agreed with a grin. "What about your team?"

"Let's leave them out of the secret for now. I'm not sure how they will react to us starting a relationship while undercover. Because that is what we are doing isn't it?" she asked suddenly unsure that they were on the same page.

"Absolutely" he assured her caressing her cheek before kissing her.

"Then let me deal with my team after we are done here and Bennett is in custody" she asked him.

"I can do that" he agreed. "Shower now because I can't wait any longer" he growled as her seductively.

sssSSsss

"Were did you disappear to last night?" Anne asked Sandrs while they were lounging by the pool after lunch.

"Robert and I…um…we…" she mumbled and she could feel her face turn red.

"You two had sex? Do I sense an end to your divorce proceedings?" The other woman asked with the grin of a gossip on her face.

"Yes we did, well… first we were caught in the private hallway snogging like teenagers" she admitted. She hoped telling the woman might get back to her husband and convince Charles that there was nothing more to their movements the night before.

"Very nice, at least someone here is being a little naughty" she replied with a laugh.

"I no longer think we should get a divorce. I mean so what if he can't remember our anniversary or how we met. There are far worse things he could have done. He never cheated on me or hit me. And the sex is really good" she truthfully admitted the last part. Sex with Robert was wonderful and she wondered why she ever thought it wouldn't be. She also managed to blush once more when she spoke of their sex life. Normally she wouldn't share this much with anyone but she was working at the moment and the more she opened up to the woman the more Anne would open up to her.

"There are far worse things a man could do though I'm sad we won't get to share a divorce lawyer" Anne replied darkly.

"Oh Anne I'm so sorry I didn't mean to be all happy while you are feeling so terrible" Sandra apologized immediately.

"Don't be, I'm happy for you. Robert really does seem like a great guy you two just let life get in the way of your feelings." The older woman assured her with a smile. "No my husband is a terrible person, he is a criminal too and I want nothing more to do with him." She added and her smile quickly disappeared.

"What kinds of crimes are we talking about? I am not trying to suggest you shouldn't get divorced but there are some crimes Robert could commit and I would be willing to look the other way." She asked her strategically, she was trying to get Anne to talk about what Charles had done and she hoped her naïve response might get her to do just that.

"No dear we are talking real crimes, people missing never to be seen again crimes" Anne elaborated and Sandra hoped her reaction was enough shock to be believable.

"Then you need to divorce him as soon as possible. Are you safe?" she asked genuinely concerned. If Charles feared she would leave with his secrets he might not being willing to just let her go.

"Yes, no reason to worry about me, he doesn't know I know. But I know what he did and I know the police are investigating him." Anne told her with a slight smirk that made Sandra suddenly feel very hopeful.

"The police really?" she asked trying to be surprised by the information.

"Oh yes and I hope they lock him up and throw away the key. It's exactly what the bastard deserves and it can't happen soon enough."

"You know if you really wanted to stick it to Charles you could tell the police what you know. And I bet they would protect you if he ever did try and hurt you." Sandra told her trying to be subtle and focus on the woman's safety while planting the idea of working with the police.

"I just might do that" she said thinking it over. "Oh he would be so mad if I did, it would be brilliant." She added her smirk becoming an evil grin worthy of a Disney villain. "I don't want you worrying about me I have survived more than Charles Bennett. Plus, I think he might be planning to leave the country. Him and Samuel disappeared when you did last night. I know those two are scheming. I bet he is planning to run away with that hussy he has been seeing on the side." Anne informed her as she folded her arms over her chest, despite the woman's desire to end her marriage she clearly didn't like the idea of being left for a younger woman. The UCOS team had found no evidence of a mistress but Sandra couldn't tell Anne that information, she had to let her continue to think there was another woman.

"What if he runs away and takes all the money with him, what will you do?" She couldn't help but make sure the woman was prepared for what might happen. When Charles was arrested his assets would be frozen and she didn't want that to harm Anne, she really did like the woman.

"I got plenty of my own money from my parents. I hid it from him. I don't need his money I just want to take it from him because he loves it so much." Anne assured her the grin still on her face.

"I wish you the best of luck them" Sandra replied grinning as well.

"What do you say we get out of the sun and go enjoy the spa. I could use another massage" Anne suggested sitting up and stretching.

"Just as long as it is not another deep tissue massage because that hurt" Sandra replied honestly she refused to partake in a repeat of yesterday's trip to the spa.

"I know right, I thought you were supposed to feel good after a massage not in pain."

"I'm glad to know I wasn't the only one who felt that way, I was being to think I was getting old" Sandra replied with a laugh.

"Honey if you are old than I am old and I got news for you I'm not old" Anne informed her sternly. "Now let's go find a better massage" she added standing up.

"Gladly" Sandra replied more than happy to join her. She had to admit the day was turning out rather well, almost as if she really was on holiday.

sssSSsss

"Robert?" Sandra called as she entered their bungalow that afternoon.

"You're finally back, I was afraid you fled the resort" he joked as he exited the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel around his waist once more.

"Sorry Anne and I decided to get a late massage and let me tell you it was heavenly. If your shoulder is still hurting, you should get one. The deep tissue one yesterday hurt more than it felt nice. But today it was complete perfection, the oil they used smelled so good. I can't believe how relaxed I actually feel. Now I don't think it was only the massage that relaxed me. Last night certainly helped with that." She finished her statement with a grin.

The whole time she had been standing there in the middle of the room gushing over her massage he had been leaning against the bathroom door frame watching her. There was a look of hunger in his eyes. Now that she was finished she watched him walk towards her quickly covering the distance between them until he reached her and pulled her body close to his. Without any words he began kissing her. She was hardly about to object instead she wrapped her arms about his neck relaxing into his embrace.

"I think we should have a repeat of this morning except in bed" he panted when they finally separated for air.

"But what about dinner?" she asked though she was defiantly not hungry.

"Forget dinner it can wait" he told her directing her towards the bed.

"But you just showered and I'm covered in oil" she objected weakly as he pushed her onto the bed.

"I'll shower again. Christ you do smell good" he moaned before he attacked her lips once more. All conversation came to an end as the two became lost in their sexual desires.

"I feel like we are doing something we shouldn't be" Sandra admitted a little while later as she lay naked in Robert's arms.

"What do you mean?" he asked and she could feel him stiffen under her, misunderstanding her comment.

"We are undercover trying to catch a murder shouldn't we be focused on that and not having sex? I mean technically we are working you're not supposed to have sex while at work. Unless you're Gerry Standing." She explained, she felt like they were breaking the rules.

"It goes to further our cover, people are going to expect us to be having sex now that we told them,we are no longer getting a divorce. Plus, all types of things happen when you go undercover." He pointed out while he kissed her shoulder but she wasn't completely buying his answer.

"Still feels like we are enjoying ourselves too much" she protested.

"And that's a bad thing?" he questioned.

"Feels like is" she confirmed.

"Then maybe that's why the sex feels so good, it's naughty sex" he teased her and she burst out laughing. Those were words she never thought she would hear him say.

"Maybe" she managed as she continued to laugh.

"Well I'm your boss and I am telling you the sex is prefect acceptable" he told her in mock sternness.

"Just acceptable?" she teased him.

"Fantastic actually" he amended himself before kissing her once more.

"Good to know I'm not the only one who feels that way. Bloody hell it that the time? We are going to be so late." She moaned when she suddenly caught sight of the clock.

"We'll be fine take a quick shower and you will have time to get ready." He assured her but he made no move to get up and before she could respond her phone began to ring.

"Hi Gerry" she answered with a sigh.

"Do you two have you're wires on because we aren't getting any sound at the moment?" he asked her.

"No, we're running late, give us ten minutes and we'll be ready. I'll text you like always." She promised him quickly.

"Okay, you two having too much fun I see" he teased her.

"Yes I had a wonderful massage with Anne Bennett you can't imagine how relaxing it was, now get off the phone so I can get ready." She told him trying to use her spa trip as an excuse so he wouldn't focus on her and Robert and what they might be doing.

"Go on then" he replied and hung up the phone much to her relief.

"Quick shower" she said standing up expecting him to follow.

"I'm good you go" he replied remaining on the bed.

"Okay" she shrugged heading for the bathroom. "Remember not to mention any of this while we have those wires on. I don't need nor do I want to hear it from those three right now." She told him firmly.

"Got it" he replied with a grin.

"You worry me sometimes" she said with a sigh before heading into the bathroom to take the fastest shower possible.

sssSSsss

"You are exhausting Robert Strickland" Sandra moaned as she changed out of her evening dress. She looked up to find him watching her from his place on the bed. "Enjoying the view?" she teased him.

"Yes I am very much" he grinned.

"Should I find you some popcorn?" she asked sarcastically.

"No I'm still full from dinner" he replied sincerely continuing to stare at her.

"Oh shut up" she sighed throwing her dress at him. He easily caught it only grinning wider.

"Don't worry I will hang this up for you as long as you don't throw the hanger at me too." He offered and she ignored him and continued to change into more comfortable clothing.

"Any way, you are the exhausting one. Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" he inquired as he hung up her dress in the closet as promised.

"Having trouble keeping up?" she asked raising her eyebrows.

"Yes if you must know though I have been out there golfing every day."

"That sounds like an excuse to me" she teased him again. She found she liked teasing him. She was dressed in her pajamas and she headed for the bed.

"Don't worry I am always up for a challenge" he told he and he quickly grabbed her as she walked by pulling her in to his arms. He had stripped down to his boxers and undershirt and she figured she knew what he was insinuating.

"I love having sex with you but twice in one day is my limit I'm sorry" she apologized.

"I just wanted a kiss" he countered before catching her lips with his.

"Right and I'm supposed to believe that?" she asked pulling away slightly and rolling her eyes.

"Yes because I've reached my limit as well. I mean I am so tired" he argued pulling her closer and she rested her head on his chest.

"Oh" she replied in surprised.

"I am going to need a good eight hours before I can have my way with you again" he assured her.

"Me too" she added with a laugh.

"Why don't you get in bed I'll join you in a minute" he promised letting her go.

"I will be waiting and trying very hard not to fall asleep." She told him honestly as she climbed into bed, It felt so good to lay down and the bed felt even more comfortable than it had the previous nights.

A few minutes later he finally joined her. She quickly shifted into his arms and rested her head on his chest. Once comfortable she closed her eyes and simply enjoyed being close to him.

"Are you going to be like you alter ego and forget important dates?" she asked him playfully after a while.

"I have usually been pretty good with dates as long as you let me know they are important first." There was a slight request in his answer and she understood.

"Don't worry I won't expect you to remember the specific dates of every minor milestone." She assured him with a laugh.

"You laugh but I have dated women who did that. One woman wanted to celebrate the month anniversary of me meeting her parents. I didn't understand why and she got mad when I didn't remember." He explained still slightly pained by the memory.

"No worries there you meeting my mum will not be a day I will want to celebrate." She assured him with a moan.

"I have already met you mum" he reminded her.

"Yes she was embarrassing then and she will only be ten times worse when she finds out we are dating." She warned him.

"I am sure we will survive, we can laugh about it later and have no fear no matter what she says I will be laughing with you not at you" he promised.

"Thank you" she replied kissing him on the chest softly.

"You know after I got divorced I did date a woman who wanted to celebrate the anniversary of the first time we had sex. I did sort of remember that date, though I don't think it actually mattered she was a bit of a sex addict it turned out. I discovered you can have too much sex." He told her with a frown and she had to work hard to not laugh a little.

"Someone needs to tell Gerry that fact. You have dated a …variety of woman, not that that I have a problem with it I have as well."

"You've dated a lot of woman?" he joked.

"No a lot of men, you think you're so funny don't you?" she asked rolling her eyes.

"I can be funny" he argued lightly.

"This is true you can be just, not at the office" she teased.

"Someone has to at least act like they are responsible" he countered.

"Oh so it is all an act?"

"You bet isn't that the secret to being an adult, act like you know what you're doing when most of the time you have no idea?"

"How true, you know sometimes it feels like Gerry, Jack, and Brian are nothing more than overgrown children and I'm stuck being the parent they only sometimes listen to." She whinged slightly to him knowing he would understand.

"You wouldn't trade them for anything in the world though would you?"

"No I wouldn't but don't you dare let them know" she agreed with a smirk.

"Your secret is safe with me. Though speaking of secrets, will you be telling them about us?" He asked her. His tone sounded more amused than anything else but she wondered how much it actually mattered to him.

"You mean if we manage to make it through this week without one or more of them discovering what we are up to?" she asked him trying not to laugh.

"Is that likely to happen?" he asked.

"Oh yes, you should prepare yourself now. Those three put little old ladies to shame when it comes to being nosy. Gerry was listening when we got caught snogging. I am sure he is already suspicious." She tried to explain to him how her team really was.

"Ah" he replied clearly the idea had not occurred to him.

"So if by some miracle we make it through the week without them finding out, then yes I will tell them. As I said they are nosy and it is too much work to keep secrets from them. Plus I have something I would rather spend that energy on." She told him with a smile as she opened her eyes to look up at him.

"Will they be upset?" he asked nervously.

"Upset? No, they might pout for a few days cause they hate change when they aren't the cause of it, but that's all. They will take it as an invitation to ask questions about our relationship all the time though so be ready."

"Is that a bad thing?" he questioned.

"No just annoying but a good glare will usually stop them." She assured him. After six years of working with these men she knew what to do to get them under control.

"Good I was afraid I would end up making your life difficult at work" he replied.

"Too late you have been doing that for years" she countered.

"Ha ha" he sighed.

"Oh no on that I am actually serious but don't worry I am accustom to you being difficult" she countered.

"I'm only difficult because you are stubborn" he argued.

"And?" she asked. If he expected her to pick a fight on this subject he was mistaken.

"And I secretly love how stubborn you are even if it drives me crazy. I just never got to tell you before cause I was just your boss." He replied honestly as he rubbed his hand up and down her arm softly.

"And you can be a very sweet man" she replied moving so she could kiss him before settling back in her previous position.

"Do you think they we will be surprised by all this?" he asked curious.

"Gerry will say he saw this coming whether he did or not. Jack could go either way, Brian will likely be surprised but he is surprised by most relationships except Gerry's. Gerry is a mystery to no one" she laughed. "Oh I should warn you they will likely take our relationship as an invitation to include you in any teasing or off colored jokes." She warned him with a smirk.

"I think I can deal with that" he assured her.

"I have no doubt you will. So if you remember dates what vices should I know about?" she asked returning to their original conversation.

"Hmm, much the same as yours I would think. I have a habit of spending too much time at work not enough relaxing."

"I would think that would work to our advantage" she pointed out.

"That is very true. Sorry I don't know my own vices."

"Well let's see, do you put the milk back in the fridge when it is empty?"

"Nope goes straight in the bin."

"Do you leave dirty socks on the floor?"

"No, had a dog when I was young who would steal them and chew them if I did."

"So the dog got you trained?"

"I guess he did" he laughed at the realization.

"What about leaving globs of toothpaste in the sink?"

"I think I might do that" he replied unhappily.

"Oh well that one doesn't actually bother me" she replied thinking about it for a moment.

"Ah I did think of one. If you send me to the store with a list I will only come back with the items on the list." He informed her happy to have come up with something.

"And that is a bad thing? I'm not sure you understand the concept."

"My ex-wife got mad because I wouldn't remember we were out of certain items that she forgot to put on the list." He tried to explain.

"I thought that was just one of the hazards of shopping. Don't worry I find it unlikely that I will do that. My fridge is filled with wine and left over takeaway" she warned him,

"I don't usually have left overs when I get take away" he countered slightly embarrassed.

"You can eat mine" she offered.

"Does that extend to the food before it becomes a left over?" he asked hopefully.

"Yes" she replied with a laugh. "All my other dinners come from the freezer" she added warning him.

"Mine too" he grinned at her.

"So this is either going to work out great or we will drive each other crazy being too much alike."

"I am hoping for the first option."

"Well I should think so. Do you go jogging early in the morning often?" She asked thinking of those first few days they spent together.

"Almost never, lunch or evening if I go which isn't very often anymore. I play fives now more than jogging nowadays"

"Then why were you up at an ungodly hour on Sunday and Monday jogging?" she demanded.

"I…um…I was having trouble sleeping…so close to you." He admitted slightly embarrassed not meeting her eyes for once. And then she remembered his arm draped over her hip.

"Did you go running to deal with your sexual frustration?" She asked piecing the whole thing together and trying hard not to grin.

"Yes…I…It's hard sleeping in a bed with a beautiful woman you are not dating. I've never done it before. And it is even worse when you would like to date them. And what is truly even worse is when you would like to date the person but she isn't interested in you that way." He admitted to her with a sigh.

"Well I clearly want to date you now" she replied seductively.

"You didn't before" he reminded her.

"That's because I didn't actually know you. You're right I didn't want to date that stuck up guy you pretend to be at work. I had to come here undercover with you to get to know the real you and from the start I have liked what I found. It's not my fault you know that right?" She countered explaining her feelings to him.

"Yes I know it is just easier to be that guy when you have to be the one in charge" he said with a sigh.

"I get that but if you want someone to like you, you have to show them the real you" she informed him with a knowing look.

"I will try and remember that for next time" he joked.

"You don't need to go sharing yourself with anyone else now. I don't share well with others." She told him playfully.

"I'm sure you don't" he agreed pulling her close and kissing passionately. "Don't worry I'm strictly a one-woman type of man."

"You know Anne said something to me yesterday about you" she told him hesitantly.

"Oh really and what did she say?" he asked both amused and curious.

"She said you have really expressive eyes" she informed him.

"I don't know if anyone has ever told me that before, was she right?"

"I don't know you tell me. She is of the opinion that when I'm not looking your eyes are filled with love and devotions for me. She went so far as to say she thought you would do anything for me but I don't ask. Is she right?" she asked him trying to keep her voice even.

"Yes I think she is, is there anything I can do for you?"

"Don't disappear on me" she replied softly. It was always her biggest fear and what kept her from truly committing to someone.

"Never, I'm not going anywhere, I would never do that to you." He promised her, he seemed to understand exactly what she was asking him and she chose too trust him and believe his words.

"Thank you" she said with a small smile.

"You don't have to thank me for that and Anne is absolutely right I would do anything for you." He assured her before kissing her once more.

"I wish you didn't have to golf tomorrow and I didn't have to spend the day with Anne." She complained to him sounding slightly petulant but she didn't care.

"I know me too but as you pointed out we are working" he reminded her being the voice of reason for the moment.

"Oh I know and I really like Anne, I hope she comes out of this alright. She really does deserve more than her terrible husband. Is he horrible to spend the day with? I feel awful that you have to be with him all day."

"I will say I have never spent this much time with a criminal of his caliber. He is absolutely not the type of person I would ever want to be friends with, he talks down to everyone. But it is bearable, he does try and push people and as of yet I have never risen to his bait I plan to keep it that way." He explained and even though he said it was alright she still felt bad that he had to spend his days with a villain.

"I'm sorry I made you do this" she apologized.

"Hey I volunteered and I am glad to be doing this, don't be sorry."

"Which part makes you glad?" she asked incredulously.

"I am glad we are finally going to take Bennett down. He is a completely different class of criminal, he is bordering on a terrorist and he is dangerous. If we manage to get a conviction this will be a huge accomplishment not just for you and your team but for the Met as well." He tied to stress the importance and scope of this case to her.

"No pressure there" she sighed.

"I think with Anne's help we already have everything we need." He tried to assuage her fears.

"Good I agree but I don't want to talk about Charles Bennett or work right now" she sighed.

"Then we don't have to" replied kissing her forehead. They lay there quietly for a while just enjoying each others company.

"I'm going to fall asleep now" Sandra said with a yawn breaking the silence.

"Me too" he murmured and that was the last thing she heard.

A/N Thank you so much for reading! I am so glad there are other people who like cliches as much as I do, thank you!


	8. Chapter 8

**Undercover**

 _Disclaimer- I own nothing I wish I did but I just get to play with the characters_

Chapter 8

"I could get use to waking up this way" Robert said kissing her bare shoulder.

"So could I" she sighed happily. "When we finally leave this wonderland I might just have to invite you over. After walking up this way for a whole week waking up alone will be depressing" she added.

"I am at your service Alice" he joked lightly.

"I'm going to take you up on that you know that right?" she asked him softly, very serious and a little nervous. She needed him to know that she wasn't really playing around, she was quite serious in her feelings for him. It had taken her a little while to figure them out but now that she had there were no doubts.

"I know and that makes me very happy" he assured her.

"Good" she replied moving around so she could kiss him. They lay there quietly in each other's arms enjoying the morning.

"Sandra can we talk about something serious for a moment?" Robert asked breaking the silence.

"Yes" she answered tentatively. She didn't understand what exactly he wanted to talk about but she feared she wouldn't like it.

"We can't risk a repeat of what happened Tuesday night" he told her.

"Which part?" she asked becoming very confused. Did he mean the sex part or the snogging in public aspect of the evening?

"The part where we were caught sneaking around by one of Bennett's men." He explained to her and part of her was relieved that he didn't mean their budding relationship. Even after the sex and their talk last night he could still have changed his mind about wanting to be in a relationship with her. Or at least it was her fear that any moment he would come to his sense and put an end to it all.

"We won't get caught" she promised him.

"No, no more sneaking around…please" he was begging not ordering her and yet that suddenly felt worse because she now felt the need to listen to him.

"But that is part of being undercover" she argued.

"It is too dangerous. Bennett was agitated yesterday. I wasn't going to say anything but it has me worried. He was upset by something I almost beat him." Robert tried to explain his rational to her.

"I thought you were going to take it easy with your shoulder?" she asked concerned about his well-being.

"I was and I still nearly won" he stressed his point to her.

"How do you know his agitation has anything to do with us?" she asked trying to find a way to refuse him.

"I don't but I don't want to take any unnecessary risks, hell I don't really want you taking any necessary risks either. Neither of us needs to try draw any more attention to ourselves as anything other than a recently reconciled couple." He replied, his voice was firm yet he continued to beg her at the same time and she had no choice but to give in to him.

"And I have no intention of taking any risks so stop worrying about it. We have two days left here and we are going to spend them the same way we spent all the others. Though hopefully more like yesterday." She assured him but added the last part playfully. She enjoyed their earlier conversation more and she was hoping they could return to it.

"Yes that would be preferable" he agree a smile returning to her face.

"How is your shoulder doing by the way? You have been giving it a rather strenuous work out." She inquired and as she did she climbed on top of him. Straddling him she leaned down and ran her hands over his shoulder rubbing it softly before she gave it several kisses.

"It will definitely be all healed if you keep doing that" he informed her, the sexual desire evident in his voice.

"I need to make sure it is being looked after" she teased him seductively as she lightly rubbed his shoulder once more.

"Oh trust me this massage is much nicer than the last one you gave me." He replied grabbing her tightly to him before rolling them over so that he was now on top of her.

"Looks to be fully functional" she joked.

"I don't care if my shoulder was broken I would still manage to force it to work so I could make love to you." He informed her his voice husky as he kissed her releasing a little of his sexual aggression.

"Yes but let's not go that far. I don't like the idea of you being hurt" she countered.

"Don't worry my shoulder is back to working order." He promised her but to his dismay his stomach chose that moment to growl loudly.

"Someone is hungry" she laughed.

"Hunger can wait" he objected.

"I'm not sure your stomach agrees" she teased him as it grumbled again. "We should get dressed and go get something to eat" she suggested.

"But I want to devour you instead" he pouted as his stomach argued with him.

"Needs must" she reminded him.

"Okay how about this, we dress and have a very quick breakfast and get back here as fast as possible. Then I can have my wicket way with you?" he proposed with a hungry grin.

"I'm more than happy with that but won't you end up being late?"

"I can be quick and I am more than willing to miss my warm up."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

sssSSsss

"I think you can get Anne to turn on her husband she has money of her own, she just wants to hurt him as much as possible. I floated the idea of her going to talk to the police yesterday and today she spoke about it unprompted plus she made it clear it was something she was seriously considering." Sandra told her three boys later that afternoon. She was reclining on the bed with her phone on speaker while Robert paced the floor in of her. He was agitated but he hadn't told her why.

"That's great to hear, we got the financial records for the resort. Brian has been going through them all morning" Jack informed her.

"I have found several irregularities but it is going to take me a little time, might need help from the special crimes guys." Brian explained to her sounding completely fascinated at the prospect.

"I'm not sure how much time we have Brian. Anne told me she thinks Charles and Samuel are plotting to skip the country and soon. We need to arrest them as soon as possible." She told them concerned. She didn't want this terrible man to get away.

"We have another concern" Robert said speaking for the first time and she looked over at him with a questioning look.

"Charles suspects there are undercover officers in the resort" he explained after a moment.

"Does he suspect you?" Jack asked.

"No he doesn't as of yet but he made it clear the harm he intends to inflict when he does find out."

"I can only imagine it is something horrible" Gerry sighed.

"Yes, I won't repeat it but he gave me cause for concern." He admitted looking directly at her, making it clear he was worried about her not himself.

"But if he doesn't suspect you then you're safe" Brian interjected.

"At the moment maybe but for how long? We found where they are hiding money, we have the wife ready to flip, is there any reason we need to continue with this ruse?" He asked pushing his concern.

"If you leave now he will know it is you two" Jack argued.

"So what if we are gone he can't hurt us?" Robert argued and Sandra could see him becoming frustrated.

"No once he is in jail he can't hurt you" Gerry corrected him.

"Tomorrow is Friday your last full day, you might get lucky and learn more" Jack suggested rather hopefully.

"Then Sandra should at least leave. I can take care of this myself, he considers me a friend. She is close to his wife, he is going to be suspicious as it is." He began turning to look directly at Sandra knowing she was the one he actually had to convince. "I can tell everyone that your mum is sick and you had to go take care of her and I didn't go because she doesn't like me. It will raise fewer suspicions than if we both leave." He told her laying out a plan that to Sandra did not appear to be suddenly improvised. His suggestion that she leave made her feel angry and she suspected he has been thinking about this for a while now which only caused the anger to grow to fury.

"You seem to have thought this all through" Jack commented.

"I have thought of nothing else for the last two hours since Charles told me his suspicions on the 11th hole. The less people in danger the better." He growled at the men on the other end of the phone call.

"I guess it could-" Gerry started but she cut him off.

"No I'm not going anywhere" she said loudly looking directly at Robert.

"It's dangerous" he told her softly.

"I don't care we are doing this together" she replied standing up and walking to him taking his hand in hers. "I couldn't come by myself you don't get to stay here alone. We are safer together." She told him firmly she was not going to leave him.

"She's right" Jack agree he sounded sad but she didn't care as she held Robert's gaze along with his hand.

"Fine but we are out of here first thing Saturday morning" he demanded.

"Agreed" the three men said at the same time and Sandra just rolled her eye at the protective men.

"I think we should stop with the wires" Robert added. "It is too dangerous, they can too easily be noticed especially under your dress." He continued giving her a pointed look.

"But it helps us know you are safe" Gerry argued.

"It is more of a liability and you won't be able to get to us in time if Charles decides to kill us. I haven't seen one but I'm sure he has a gun." Robert continued to argue and she had to admit she was not about to object to this idea, she hated wearing the wire to begin with.

"Then you're right the risk is too great, looks as though you two are on you own." Jack agreed very unhappy with the idea but forced into seeing things their way.

"We will be fine Jack stop worrying and find something to put this guy in jail" Sandra demanded getting tired of their paternalism.

"We will call as soon as we have something" Gerry assured her.

"Good" she nodded.

"Time you two dressed for dinner" Jack reminded them still grumpy.

"Talk to you later" she replied hanging up. She tossed the phone on the bed and turned all her attention to the man next to her. She pulled her hand away from his and fixed a glare on him.

"Together, we are doing this together. I am not leaving you here. We walked in her together we leave together." She told him firmly leaving no room for argument.

"If something happens to you I don't know what I would do and I would never forgive myself."

"You think I don't feel the exact same way? We take care of each other."

"Yes I know I'm sorry" he said finally giving in. He held out his hand to her and she happily accepted it again. Once he had her hand in his he pulled her close to him and kissed her. "Anyone every tell you you're pretty smart?" he asked gently caressing her cheek.

"Not sure if anyone has put it so nicely" she laughed.

"Please no unnecessary risks. No following Bennett around like you did two days ago. Just relax and enjoy the last day or so." He begged her once more as he had done earlier that morning.

"I promise if you make the same promise" she countered. He nodded in agreement before kissing her once more.

"I never get tired of you doing that" she replied with a smile as they pulled away.

"Me neither" he smiled.

"We better get dressed don't want to be late" she reminded him but she didn't make any attempt to leave his arms.

"Yes we should, we can't do anything to draw suspicion to us." He added giving her forehead a kiss before finally releasing her. She immediately missed his embrace but she knew he was right. With a sigh she began to put her dress on.

Sandra felt almost naked under her dress without the wire hidden beneath her clothes. It was amazing to realize that after only four days she had become accustom to having the listening device taped to her skin. She also missed Strickland's help putting the wire on, the feel of his hands on her back. Just the thought made her face flush and she quickly tried to push the images away, they could have fun once they returned from dinner.

"You okay?" Robert asked coming out of the bathroom trying to straighten his bow tie.

"Yes I'm fine" she assured him with a smile. "Here let me do that" she offered taking the bow tie in her hands.

"Thank you, you sure everything is alright, your face is red?" he asked concerned.

"Yes I was just remembering how you helped me put my wire on last night." She admitted with a grin stepping back to make sure the tie was straight. "There perfect" she added.

"Oh I remember, helping you it is one of my fondest memories of this trip" he replied pulling her close and kissing her. "We were late for dinner yesterday and I think most people knew why" he whispered seductively.

"Yes they did" she grinned in agreement.

"I would very much like to repeat that process tonight after dinner. Though since you are not wearing a wire I guess I can only offer to help you out of your dress. You do look very nice in it by the way." As he spoke he began to pepper her neck and shoulders with tiny kisses, it seemed to be his favorite way to torture her.

"Robert" she moaned in frustration and delight.

"Yes?" he asked wickedly.

"If you don't stop we won't make it to dinner" it was the last rational thought she had left in her head.

"True, I guess we are going to have postpone this until after dinner." He replied giving her one last kiss before letting her go and she had to hold back a moan of pure frustration.

"You are such a tease I am going to make you pay for that later" she warned him, her frown transformed into a wicked smile as she mentally planned her revenge.

"I hardly think I should be punished for my inability to keep my hands off you. It's not my fault you are irresistible" he argued playfully.

"Oh no I'm going to punish you for starting something you had no intention of finishing" she replied seductively. It was her turn to tease him and turnabout was defiantly fair play.

"You will be the death of me" he groaned happily.

"Just as long as Charles Bennett doesn't get the opportunity to try first" she answered him her tone no longer playful.

"He won't I promise" he assured her pulling her into his arms and kissing her forehead once more. Part of her wished they had just left but that would not have guaranteed they were safe. She had heard the man threatened her team and she knew he would not hesitate to come after them if he found out what they were.

"I know, come on let's go eat" she sighed. He willingly let her go but she grabbed his hand with hers as they walked towards the door.

The evening was fairly subdued neither of them felt in the mood to celebrate as some people did. One table kept ordering shots while another kept breaking into drunken singing. Strickland was on edge the whole time. He kept checking their surroundings after Charles left halfway through dinner and never returned.

Once he was done with his own food he kept a protective arm on her back and she could feel the tension in his muscles. She has to work hard not to allow his anxiety to rub off on her, she needed to act normal so that Anne wouldn't notice.

"You would think those tables were filled with twenty something young kids not middle age parents" Anne said with a laugh.

"I know" Sandra agreed laughing along with the other woman. It was hard to ignore the intoxicated guests. "They are going to feel every one of those shots in the morning" she added with another laugh and Anne nodded emphatically with a smirk on her face.

"And dealing with a hangover is so much worse when you are no longer a kid" Anne whinged.

"I would not want a hangover for my last day here, I would end up spending the day in bed" she moaned.

"I know, I would have expected them to act this way tomorrow night after our last day."

"I can't believe tomorrow is out last day here, it went so fast. Soon it will be back to the real world" Sandra said with a sigh. While she was eager to get away from the resort and Charles Bennett. She wasn't sure what would happen to her new relationship once they were back in their own lives.

"I know but onward to divorce, for me that is. What I don't understand is why they are insisting on having this ball tomorrow night. We have come here many times before and they have never done this. Plus, I do not need to see some of these people trying to dance and I for one have no intention of dancing. I will be a permanent wallflower." Anne announced proudly and Sandra had to agree.

"I will be right there with you" she replied with a smile.

"Are you sure, Robert looks like he might want to dance with you. Isn't that right Robert?" Anne said with a grin trying to get his attention.

"I beg your pardon I didn't hear what you said" he admitted. He clearly hadn't been paying any attention to the women.

"I was asking if you wanted to dance with your wife tomorrow at this summer ball they insist on throwing." The older woman explained with a giant grin.

"Dance? Oh yes of course I would, who wouldn't want to dance with her" he replied looking over at her with adoration and possibly love. If Sandra had been standing she would have feared her knees might give out.

"Who indeed, you better be careful or someone might try" she teased him.

"They will quickly find I don't share well with others" he joked.

"I am sitting right here, an autonomous unit and if I say I don't want to dance I'm not dancing" she huffed though her smile severely weakened her argument.

"That's find I am sure we can find a dark corner somewhere instead" he offered teasing her.

"Now that idea I like much better" she agreed with a laugh. As she did she saw him check the door way and the clock once more clearly on the lookout for Charles Bennett.

"All right you need to take that man back to your bungalow right now" Anne ordered with a hearty chuckle.

"Why?" Sandra asked confused.

"Because he can't stop looking at you and then at the clock. You two go on and have some fun" she demanded.

"Oh no we wouldn't dream of leaving you on your own. Charles already has and we won't do the same" she replied firmly without looking at Robert.

"Don't you worry about me I think I will retire to my own room, I'm going to watch a film on my laptop. Much better entertainment than this lot or Charles." She answered them smiling happily. "Come let's leave those foolish people to their shots." She added standing up.

Sandra and Robert didn't need to be told twice, they were on their feet in a moment and followed her out of the room. They did insist on walking Anne back to her bungalow before silently returning to their own. Neither knew where Charles Bennett was or who might be listening.

"What did you see?" Sandra asked him the moment they were safely alone.

"When Ellis came to get Charles there was another man waiting for them in the doorway. I haven't seen the man around before, they left and didn't come back. I don't have a good feeling about them" he admitted. "I should have followed them" he growled violently removing his bow tie and throwing it across the room. His dinner jacket quickly followed. Sandra stood there silently waiting for him to calm down a little before she tried to talk to him.

"Whatever they are doing it will be…bad…people will get hurt and I can't do anything to stop it." He ranted as he began pacing the floor as she watched.

"I should be doing something" he yelled.

"Feel better?" she asked flatly when he finally stopped shouting.

"No" he growled still pacing.

"Well I can tell you we won't be letting you out in the field again. The office is definitely the best place for you." She told him without a hint of humor in her voice and he turned to face her fury in his eyes.

"And why is that?" he growled dangerously but she wasn't afraid of him.

"Because you look like you are about to hit someone and we can't afford to have you hitting the wrong man again. We don't have the patience to train a new DAC." She answered him and her lips curled into a smile as the end and to her relief his did as well.

"You have me trained?" he countered.

"Absolutely, you hardly bat an eye when those three do something stupid. Hell you barely put up a fight when I went diving last year." She reminded him but her choice of examples was miscalculated as his face tell to a frown once more.

"A choice I still regret, you could have been hurt" he replied softly.

"What happened then wasn't your fault and what happens now won't be your fault either." She tried to convince him to let it all go.

"You don't understand, I can't keep you safe right now. I have no idea what he is up to." He yelled practically pleading with her.

"It's okay" she informed him. She knew better at that moment to try and tell him he didn't have to protect her.

"No it's not, I am scared to death of what he could do, what he will do to you if he catches you."

"We have no reason to believe he suspects me or you" she countered.

"That won't stop him. I spent all week golfing with him, you have no idea what type of man he is" Robert argued.

"Is golf like therapy now?" she joked but he didn't laugh.

"I wish you had just agreed to leave. Why do you have to be so stubborn?" he cried.

"First let's get something straight right now. I have been with the police for over twenty years, I have been threatened, practically assaulted by drunken idiots, I have faced down murders, rapist and kidnappers and none of them have bested me. I am still here and I am damn good at my job. Plus, I have worked with these three pensioners for six years and not gone out of my mind. I am a detective superintendent, and a pretty good one I'd argue. You will have to ask my boss about that to know for sure. He is a great guy but he gets these really stupid ideas, like the idea that his life is less important than mine. He can't seem to fathom that I might feel exactly the same way." She took a deep breath before she continued to lecture him.

"Second I don't need to be protected by anyone. But that doesn't mean it isn't nice to have someone watching my back as long as I get to watch their back." She stood there in the middle of the room chastising him. She was not about to let him treat her like some princess or china doll who could easily be broken. She continues to stand there staring him down wondering how he would react.

Robert stood there looking at her before he surprised her by slowly moving towards her and then pulling her into an embrace. She didn't put up a fight, instead she rested her head on his shoulder relaxing in his arms.

"I know" he whispered softly, a statement that amazed her as well. She thought he would fight her a little. "I know how strong and smart and capable you are and I love that about you. I'm just scared" he admitted holding her tighter.

"Together, we are in this together, we will deal with this together. So what do you want to do that does not involve one or both of us leaving?" she asked him.

"I…I…I want to go for a walk…wearing far less noticeable clothes than we are wearing right now." He told her becoming confident of his decision as he spoke.

"Then let's do it" she agreed eagerly, she chose not to point out that he had been the one to argue that they shouldn't go sneaking around. Now did not seem the time to remind him of this fact. "Ah Robert" she said carefully when he didn't move.

"Yeah?"

"You need to let me go if we are going to do this" she pointed out to him.

"Yes, right, of course" he agreed slowly releasing her from his embrace.

"I'm going to change then" she told him slowly walking towards the wardrobe.

"Me too" he mumbled. He dug around in his clothes while she pulled out what she wanted to wear and headed to the bathroom.

"I'm just going to take some of this makeup off" she called closing the door.

Sandra walked out a few minutes later wearing black yoga leggings that stopped half way down her calf, a skin tight work out tank top also intended for yoga classes. She zipped up a formfitting gray hoodie, she had her hair pulled back in a messy bun on the top of her head that she could easily put her hood over if necessary. She found Robert dressed in workout clothes as well, she was pretty sure they were the same type of clothes he had worn when he went running earlier that week. He was pulling on a black hooded sweatshirt that fit looser than her own. She looked up to find him staring at her and she suddenly felt slightly self-conscious.

"I thought I might have to do yoga here and I wanted to look the part. Never really done yoga before, went to a Pilates class once" she felt the need to explain her appearance for some unknown reason as he just kept looking at her.

"You look prefect" he said when he finally found his voice.

"Perfect for yoga or perfect for sneaking around a resort at night?" she asked unsure what he meant.

"No, just perfect, amazing, god you are sexy" he explained further and he looked like he was about to devour her.

"Thank you but focus." She laughed as she put a pair of trainers on and thankfully he began to put his on as well.

"You sure about doing this?" he asked her before they left.

"Together" she replied putting her hand out taking his hand.

It took them a little while to find Charles, Ellis, and their gang of men. They were in one of the unoccupied bungalows on the other side of the resort. On the table inside the room where stacks of cash that one of the men appeared to be counting. On the nearby bed were several parcels wrapped in brown paper with wires and electrical components. The sight made Sandra's stomach drop and before they could see any more they were forced to duck and hide in the bushes under the open window to avoid being discovered.

"When will you leave?" a voice she didn't recognize asked from inside the room.

"Tomorrow night, thanks to the ball idea Ellis thought up, they will all be too busy to notice I'm gone until it's too late" Charles replied with a sick laugh that made her want to throw up. She looked over at Robert to see the look of fear and frustration on his face. She took his hand and gave it a squeeze hoping to prevent him from doing something rash and dangerous.

"What about your wife? Will she be going with you?" another voice asked.

"No let the bitch stay here it's what she deserves. She plans to divorce me and I think she said things she shouldn't have to that couple we sit with at dinner. He's been giving me strange looks during golf these last two days. Either way we can get rid of them all tomorrow." Charles explained and Sandra was sure she stopped breathing at that point.

"Is two million enough to get you to Brazil?" someone asked.

"That should be good" he confirmed.

"How will you get there if they are looking for you?" another voice questioned.

"Fake names and passports you idiots. We will take a flight out of Dublin and land in Rio before anyone knows what is going on." He informed them laughing once more.

"Are you sure this is all necessary, a lot of people will be hurt?" Samuel Ellis asked and he sounded nervous.

"We need a giant distraction and by the time they realize we were never here for the fireworks we will be in Brazil. Don't worry Ellis you will love Rio. Now get moving put those packages together." Bennett ordered them harshly.

Warning bells were going off in Sandra's head, they needed to get away before Charles left the bungalow. She gave Strickland's hand a quick squeeze and looked around before she looked over at him motioning for them to leave. He nodded and slowly they extracted themselves from the bushes. When they were a safe distance away they broke out into a fast jog still trying not to be noticed as they raced back into their room. As soon as they were inside Sandra ripped her hood off trying to catch her breath while she watched Robert bolt the door and put a chair under the knob. He then closed the curtains making sure no one could spy on them.

"Shit" he hissed when he was done and he stood there panting trying to catch his breath.

"We need to call Jack and Gerry" she told him looking at the clock. It was now nearly eleven at night but she hardly cared if she woke them.

"I don't know if we have enough to get a warrant" he growled.

"We will tell them everything we saw and they will figure out what can be done. If they have to they will call in an anonymous tip to the bomb squad. Trust me Gerry, Jack, and Brian will do something." She stressed to him that her team would find a way to get the bomb squad out to the resort.

"If we left now we could talk to a judge and maybe get a warrant" he suggested.

"We can't leave now. He suspects we know something and he wants to kills us" she reminded her.

"All the more reason we should leave" he argued.

"He will still kill as many people as he can here and then have his men come looking for us. We have a better chance of saving these people if we are here. If we can find out where the bombs are we can get the bomb guys to deactivate them before something happens. And then boarder control can grab Bennett before he gets on that plane to Brazil." She explained to him digging her phone out from where she had hidden it earlier.

"Yeah you're right it just doesn't feel safe for us here" he replied giving in and he pulled his hoodie off as she called Jack.

"Sandra do you know what time it is? Not all of us are on holiday" Jack groaned and whinged answering the call on the fourth ring.

"Listen Jack, Charles Bennett is planning on setting off a bomb here at the resort and skip the country with Ellis and two million pounds. He plans to fly out of Dublin tomorrow night." She explained to him quickly.

"Wait what? Did you say a bomb?" Jack replied trying to understand as he woke up.

"We saw the money and the explosives" she confirmed.

"With the amount of explosives they had it is likely they are making more than one bomb." Robert added and his words only made the hole in her stomach grow bigger.

"How did you find all this out?" Jack asked confused.

"We spied on them, they were in one of the empty bungalow" she admitted.

"I thought you two were just going to relax and blend in. We all agreed it was too dangerous." He yelled at them as if they were unruly children.

"Since when have any of us been good at sitting on the sidelines when criminals are at work" she countered. She was not interested in his lecture especially after everything he and the other men had pulled over the years.

"When you two get back we are going to have a long conversation about taking unnecessary risks, I am sure Gerry will have a few choice words." He continued to lecture her ignoring her objection.

"Well you should be glad we did or we all might have been blown up and Bennett would have gotten away." She yelled continuing to argue with him.

"What if you two had been caught? I would think your little acting stunt from two nights ago would have been enough to make you cautious. Don't think Gerry didn't tell me about that."

"I never thought he would keep it to himself. We are not children Jack and you are not my father so don't you dare treat us this way. If we got caught we would have dealt with it. I don't care how mad you might be about this, I wasn't looking for your permission. Now can we please focus on the explosives and the criminal who wants to flee the country after blowing this resort sky high?" It was her turn to lecture him, they didn't have time for his feelings of fatherly protectiveness.

"We are still going to talk about this" he grumbled.

"Fine, whatever, please just focus Jack" she sighed.

"Do you know where these bombs are going to be planted?" He asked finally getting back to the point at issue.

"No they didn't say anything about where they will be, they are making them right now" she replied tersely.

"From their conversation it seems they want to hurt and kill as many people as possible. So I would guess they will be placed all over the resort. And he wants it to look like he died along with his wife and us. So I bet he will put one in his own bungalow." Robert told the older man what he suspected would happen.

"Do you have any idea when or how these bombs will be deactivated?" Jack pushed.

"I would expect some time during the dinner and dancing tomorrow night or right after it is over. We saw the bomb components but I don't know how they plan to set them off. Could be a timer or a signals from a device including a mobile phone." Robert answered him once more and his answer didn't make any of them feel good.

"I will let the bomb squad know what you found and saw, hopefully they will have some ideas of what to do. At worst tomorrow night they might just have to come in and start searching with the dogs and ground sensors." Jack told them honestly.

"I will try and see if I can find anymore out tomorrow during our golf game" Robert added and Sandra's eyes shot up to meet his trying to communicate her fear at this idea but she remained silent.

"Be careful, I mean it when I say no more unnecessary risks, you don't want to tip him off that we know. He might feel cornered and he might just decide to detonate the bombs early which is the last thing we want. And that is the same reason I can't make you two leave right now. He would definitely get suspicious" he growled at them.

"Let it go Jack" she growled back. "We need a plan, stop wasting time on lamenting the situation and lecturing us." She hissed at the man tired of his comments.

"I just need to know you two will be as safe as you possibly can. I will give Gerry a call as soon as we get off. We are going to have to play it by ear. How are we going to get in touch with you two without arising suspicions?" Jack asked her and she thought about it for a moment.

"Call my phone leave a message we will think of reasons to keep coming back to the room, that is the best I can come up with right now." She told him with a sigh, she was too tired to come up with anything more complex.

"Okay, you know sending you undercover to a golf and spa resort was not actually supposed to be dangerous." Jack commented, she agreed with him on some level but she wondered if he was trying to start a fight.

"Yeah well undercover is usually dangerous and think about the man you wanted us to get close to. Deep down we all knew this could get serious." She reminded him, they were the police their job was a dangerous one.

"True just promise me you two will try to be safe" he begged them.

"We will Jack" Robert promised and she shot him a glare that confused him.

"We will Jack but remember the lives of everyone at the resort are in danger and we have to stop these bombs from going off." She told him sternly reminding him of the bigger picture and what was truly a risk.

"I know and we will find a way" Jack assured her.

"Don't let Bennett get away either" Robert ordered him.

"I won't if not for those bombs I would have him arrested right now." The older man grumbled angrily.

"I know but think how bad it would have been if we didn't know about these explosives, officers and guests would have died" she wisely pointed out.

"Very true and highlights the need to be careful. Let me call Gerry maybe he can come up with something. Keep your phone close if you can, we will get back to you." He tried to assure them but as she hung up she wasn't feeling very positive.

She looked up at Robert and saw the same look on his face. She let out a frustrated sigh and kicked off her shoes before dropping down on the bed. Things suddenly felt out of control and she didn't know how to sort it out. After a few moments Robert joined her on the bed and he gently pulled her into his arms. They sat there silently for a long time. How was it possible that only hours before they had been playfully flirting and teasing each other, it now seemed like a life time ago.

"We should have had sex before dinner" Sandra moaned aloud breaking the silence.

"I know" he sighed kissing her forehead.

"Charles Bennett is not going to get away with this we will stop him." She told him firmly though she wasn't sure who she was trying to convince more him or her.

"I know, maybe you're right it has been a number of years since I have been in the field, maybe I am best left in the office." He moaned pulling her a little closer to him.

"That isn't what I said, I said we won't be letting you out in the field again because you might attack the criminals. Your bosses will likely remind you that your place is in the office. Me personally, I like you right here next to me." She informed him and she couldn't prevent the smile that came to her face.

"Oh I am sure in private my bosses will have plenty of choice words for me, not that I care and there isn't much they can actually do. I prefer being right here next to you as well." He agreed kissing her.

"I think it's time to get out of these yoga clothes, would you like to help me?"

"I would love to" he happily replied.

The sex that followed was nothing like the frenzied sex or the playful sex of the previous days, this time it was slow and sensual, soft and caring. It was the sex of two people who had no idea what terror the following day would hold. Two people who wanted to enjoy the touch and feel of their partner and remember it all. Afterwards they lay there wrapped in each others arms, her head resting on his chest and she could hear his heart beating below as his chest rose and fell. She had drifted off into that place between sleep and awake when her phone rang jolting her back to consciousness.

"It's Gerry" she told him before answering the call. "Hi" she greeted him unsure what response she was about to get from the man.

"What the bloody hell were you thinking" he yelled through the phone answering her question. His loud yells broke through the silence of the room and made both of them jump.

"Our jobs" she replied flatly not really in the mood for his anger.

"Are you trying to get yourselves killed?" he continued ignoring her.

"You want an answer or would you just like to keep yelling?" she asked him flippantly.

"I would like to keep yelling" he growled back at her.

"Then please continue" she sighed pulling the blanket up around her and relaxing against the pillows.

"You two were supposed to enjoy the resort and keep up appearances because it was getting too dangerous there. And we agreed to no wires because they were too dangerous as well. Then you two stupidly go off and spy on them while they are building their bombs and planning their escape. What the bloody hell is wrong with you?" He continued on his rant clearly he was even more upset than Jack.

"Are you done?" she asked far from amused.

"No, are you two trying to get blown up because that is what will happen if you keep poking around the place. You two now really are in danger and we don't have much time to get it all fixed. Don't you two dare do anything else that will stupidly get you killed. And we will be talking about your clearly suicidal tendencies when you are safely back at the office. If I have my way you two would be safely locked in a jail cell right now. Don't think Jack and I didn't consider send uniforms in there to stage an arrest." His voice kept getting louder as he lectured them and now his ideas were starting to anger her.

"You're done Gerry" she growled shutting him up. "First off I am the one in charge of this unit not the other way around. I don't know where you get off treating me like a new recruit but it stops right now. I tell you what to do and you do not threaten to have me arrest for my own safety. Do I make myself clear?" she asked, but all she received was silence so she continued.

"Second I will tell you what I told Jack, we are police officers risk is part of the job. And it is also our job to discover plots that will kill people as this one will. If we didn't go sneaking around we all would have likely been killed here tomorrow night, did you even think of that? And I don't think you are one to get on me about sneaking around. How many times have you three done something like this when I told you not to?" She cried turning the tables on him. She was not going to sit there silently while he reprimanded her for doing the same thing they had done.

"When we go off it is different" he growled as serious as he could be.

"Excuse me how is this any bloody different?" she exclaimed, her anger only swelling.

"You're the guvnor, you both are and do you have any idea how important you are not just as the guvnor but as our friend, you can't go sticking your neck out especially when we aren't there to look after you." He argued back sending her temper through the roof.

"This is the job, I came in here undercover to bring down a terrible criminal who we all knew was dangerous. I do not need someone to look after me or to protect me or keep me from harm. I am a bloody police officer and I am sick and tired of this bloody male paternal bullshit." She yelled as him before she dropped the phone on the bed and stormed into the bathroom slamming the door. Thankfully the speaker phone was on and Robert didn't have to scramble to pick up before he began talking.

"Gerry I don't think that was the right thing to say" he informed the man. He took the phone off the bed, turned the speaker off and put her phone up to his ear.

"I have a long history of saying the wrong thing with women" the older man replied less than concerned.

"Well she is furious" he informed the older man.

"Where did she go?"

"Into the loo I can hear the shower running."

"Oh…she really is mad" Gerry commented.

"You may have been the third person today to suggest she needed to be protected…She clearly does not agree with that idea and honestly is it a moot issue. We are here, we can't leave, we need a solution to keep a lot of people from getting hurt." Strickland reminded him and they were running out of time.

"True both Jack and I agree the first step is to get the bomb squad involved first thing tomorrow morning and see how they want to handle the situation." Gerry explained finally getting down to the problem they now faced.

"That sounds good, please warn them not to raise suspicion if at all possible. I really don't want these innocent people hurt." He warned the other man, he wanted to save lives not endangering them further.

"We will get the bomb guys involved whether they want to or not and make sure the explosives are discovered without people getting hurt."

"What does that mean Gerry?" Robert asked suspicious.

"Oh come on sir you know we won't just sit by. If they don't do enough we will make sure you and all those people get out of there. I will pull the fire alarm if I have to." Gerry explained and he could only imagine the grin on the old copper's face.

"Or you might anonymously call in a bomb threat" the younger man replied trying not to laugh as he repeated Sandra's words.

"That is a very good idea see you've got the right idea."

"Did you really consider sending officers in to arrest us and force us to leave?" Robert asked remembering what the man had said minutes before.

"Ah yes we did, we were desperate to find a way to get you two out over your objections" Gerry admitted.

"Not a bad plan but Sandra would have killed you three."

"Yeah I know plus we were forced to agree that having you two there helps us."

"I am going to try and see if I can locate any of the bombs tomorrow" Strickland admitted keeping an eye on the bathroom so as not to get caught by Sandra.

"On your own?"

"Yes and before you ask no I am not going to tell Sandra about it and neither are you. The only way to keep her out of this is to keep her in the dark." Robert told him, he knew she would not be happy about this but he didn't care.

"True though you do know that when she finds out she is going to be so angry at all of us, you better be prepared for that" Gerry warned him.

"As long as we walk out of this alive I will gladly deal with it" he assured him. He knew she would be furious at him and it could do harm to their new relationship but at the moment her life was more important.

"I know let's just get through all of this, we'll be in touch" Gerry reminded him.

"Right good night Gerry."

"Night sir, tell her I'm sorry and both you two should get some sleep" Gerry told him before hanging up.

Sandra had been standing in the cold water for minutes and she still felt furious. Why did all the men in her life think she couldn't take care of herself. She wasn't the one who took stupid risks and unnecessary chances. It was infuriating to be treated this way. She understood that they cared but that didn't give them the right to keep her from doing her job. When would they learn she wasn't going to put up with it. She resisted the urge to punch the wall as she continued to think about the situation. She was the one in charge, she had worked hard to get where she was and she wasn't about to let them push her around just because they were men.

She made the water warmer and let it run over her tense muscles. Since the cold water wasn't helping she would at least enjoy the effects of the hot water. She wanted this all to be over, to walk out with Robert and spend actual time with him. Go to dinner, see a film, have sex in her own bed. She had lost all track of time when she heard a knock on the bathroom door. She knew it could only be Robert.

"Sandra" he called out.

"Yeah" she replied loud enough for him to hear.

"Can I come in?"

"I guess so."

"Gerry said he was sorry, he is just worried, we all are."

"I will not be treated this way it isn't right and it isn't fair."

"I know, none of us want anyone to get hurt. They are going to get the bomb squad involved first thing in the morning" he informed her.

"That's good…thank you for dealing with him" she said to him after a minute.

"You almost done in here?" he asked changing the subject.

"Yeah I think so" she replied turning the water off.

"Good let's go to bed and try to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long and eventful day."

"God don't I know it" she agreed climbing out of the shower and to her pleasant surprise he was standing there with a fluffy towel waiting for her. He wrapped it around her and walked her back out to their bed.

A/N Thank you for reading and I am so happy you are liking the story!


	9. Chapter 9

**Undercover**

 _Disclaimer- I own nothing I wish I did but I just get to play with the characters_

Chapter 9

Sandra woke up Friday morning tired, frustrated and grumpy. After climbing into bed with Robert she had lay awake in his arms thinking. She kept running the situation over and over in her mind trying to find a better solution, a safer solution and she continued to come up with nothing. She stayed that way for hours until exhaustion finally took over only to wake few a hours later. The sun was shining bright through the window but it didn't match her dark mood.

The previous morning Sandra and Robert had been playful and sexy with each other but neither felt that way now. He gave her a gentle few kisses before he got out of bed to shower but the kisses lacked any hint of sexual desire. They didn't really speak much, there wasn't anything they could say to make it better. They walked silently hand in hand to the dining room where they both filled up on coffee desperate for some energy.

Anne picked up on her mood immediately but she waited a few hours before she finally asked Sandra about it.

"What has you so out of sorts today?" the older woman asked. Sandra was silent for a few moments trying to find an answer.

"I'm worried about going home" she finally replied with a lie.

"You mean you are afraid of what will happen between the two of you?" she asked trying to understand.

"I'm afraid life will get in the way, we only just found our way back to each other what if we aren't strong enough?" Sandra asked and it was nice to know that even with only a few hours of sleep she could still manage to come up with an effective and believable lie.

"You will just have to work at it, be aware of what happened before and try hard not to give in to the behaviors that broke you apart. Maybe you two could try working a little less?" Anne suggested trying to be helpful.

"Oh no that is the one thing we have in common we are both very dedicated to our work." She informed the woman honestly. "It has been so hard not checking into my office this whole week." She whinged trying to sound believable.

"I think you can do it, don't worry about it too much just make the decision to do it. Like me, I am packing up and moving out the moment we get home. That is if he even comes home." Anne told her with a determined look.

"Bravo good to hear" she replied approving whole heartedly.

"I feel like a new woman" Anne gushed almost giddy the exact opposite of how Sandra was feeling.

"I am so happy for you" she responded with a smile but she could only manage a weak one.

"You should be happy as well, your marriage is on the mend don't be all gloomy." The woman said trying to pep her up.

"Oh I'm sorry Anne I didn't sleep well last night I am exhausted" she explained.

"They why don't we go to lunch early and then you can take a nap here in the sun. There is nothing better than an afternoon spend sleeping warmed by the sun." She suggested sitting up.

"That does sound wonderful" Sandra agreed perking up.

"Then let's go. I may nap as well" she grinned as the two walked off.

An afternoon of dozing on and off did help improve Sandra's mood allowing her to feel slightly more optimistic about Charles and his bombs. The bomb squad existed to stop threats such as this, it was their job and she trusted them. She was dozing lightly when the warmth of the sun suddenly disappeared. Opening her eyes to investigate she found a person standing next to her.

"Robert" she exclaimed happy yet surprised to see him.

"Sorry I hope I'm not interrupting" he began.

"No not at all just napping, what's up?" she asked sitting up so she could see him better.

"I was hoping you would be willing to joining me for a couple's massage?" he explained. "You don't mind do you Anne?" he added.

"No of course not you two kids go have fun" she told them with a laugh.

"Okay" Sandra agreed accepting the hand he was offering. "We'll see you at dinner" she promised the older woman as they walked away hand in hand. "What's this all about?" she asked Robert as they walked towards the spa.

"You'll see" he replied cryptically.

"What happened to golf?" she inquired secretly happy to be able to spend the afternoon with him.

"We decided to cancel" he replied and he held the spa door open for her. "We already have a room" he explained as they skipped the front desk and went straight into the heart of the spa.

"Robert what is going go?" she asked as he pulled her into one of the rooms. She was about to ask a few more questions when she looked up to see a familiar face standing there in one of the spa's white lab coats.

"Gerry" she cried in shock. "What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"I'm moonlighting as a masseuse. What do you think I am doing here? Now get on the massaged table and at least look like you two are getting a couples massage if someone comes in." He hissed at them and she quickly slipped her sandals off and sat on the table.

"Don't you even think of touching me" she warned him.

"Sandra relax" he sighed.

"Then tell me what is going on" she whispered.

"This was the only way I could talk to you two without arising suspicions because Bennett and his men all know I'm a copper." He informed her and she had to admit it was a smart idea.

"Right so what is the status of the situation?" she asked eagerly.

"The bomb squad is on their way. A couple of them are going to look around dressed as staff. Then once dinner starts they will move in and actually get to work. They have all those locations you gave me sir and now it is time to let them do the dangerous work." Gerry said looking over at Robert who was sitting on the other table. Sandra was slightly confused by what Gerry was talking about.

"What locations? We only saw them making the bombs?" she asked him immediately becoming suspicious.

"He gave me a list of locations he believes might have a bomb." Gerry answered ignoring the glare Robert was giving him. She suddenly knew they were in on a secret she was not.

"How did you get those Robert?" she asked a sinking feeling developing in her stomach and fury building inside her chest.

"I…well…" he stuttered.

"What did you do?" she growled at him.

"I spent most of the morning looking for the bombs and trying to find out where Charles Bennett was without him noticing me." He answered her but he refused to meet her eye.

"I beg your pardon? And you didn't think to tell me this was your plan? Did you deiced to do this after Bennett canceled your golf game or before?" She demanded her anger rising.

"Before, I was going to cancel but he beat me to it" he replied weakly.

"You were the one who kept saying we shouldn't be taking unnecessary risks. You begged me not to do anything like this and remember I made you promise as well, which you did. So last night you lied to me, plus you decided to do this and at no point did you think I might want to know about it?" She yelled at him furious for what he had done which included breaking a pretty important promise he made to her.

"I knew you would want to know about it but I didn't want you to know what I was doing. I wanted you to go to the pool with Anne thinking I was golfing so no one would become suspicious" he answered still not looking at her. He knew exactly how mad she was at him and for some reason he thought if he avoided eye contact he could escape her wrath. She decided to teach him how wrong he was.

"So you flat out kept this from me. Let me guess you wanted to protect me? You didn't want me helping you because you deemed it too dangerous for me." She growled at him fury in her eyes. "You lied to me last night when you said we were in this together. Maybe I do want a divorce after all" she screamed at him and bolted from the room. She didn't stop or even look to see if he was following her.

Sandra stormed straight into their bungalow slamming the door behind her. She was so mad she could barely see straight let alone think. She began grabbing her clothes out of the wardrobe and shoving them back into her suitcase. She needed something to do and packing was all she could think of. She felt betrayed by Robert Strickland and it hurt more than she expected.

A few minutes later she heard the door open but she didn't turn around, she didn't react at all, she simply continued to throw stuff into her suitcase she didn't even bother to fold them, she didn't care at that moment. She wanted to block the whole world out and forget she ever came on this trip. Now all she wanted was to arrest Bennett, save all the guests from his bombs and go home, back to her old life that didn't involve Strickland.

"Sandra" he called but she continued to ignore him, she never wanted to speak to him again.

"Sandra please" he begged her but she didn't respond.

"Sandra could you please cut me a little slack… please, I am completely in love with you which will surprise no one. But I have only been allowed to actively care about you and your safety for three or four days. I am going to need some time to get use to you being in danger, am I going to over react again? Probably, but it is a learning curve and a process. Please… I am going to make mistakes like this but I didn't do it because I wanted to under mind you or because I didn't think you could handle it. I did it because I love you and I don't want anything to happen to you." He was standing there begging her and she wanted to be mad at him and to yell and rant at him. But she just couldn't be mad after what he had just said.

"I'm not saying I am ready to entirely forgive you just yet but I think I see where you are coming from and I must admit I feel the same way. I don't like the idea of you being in danger any more than you like the idea of me in danger. And you do make a valid point that we have not really had the time necessary to adapt to all the changes that a relationship will bring about." She replied choosing her words very carefully and trying to remain calm.

"Really?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yes really" she admitted with a sigh.

"I am glad and rather relieved that you actually understand, I respect you as a detective and as a woman" he said unsure of the situation, she could see in his eyes that he didn't know if she was still mad at him.

"It is possible I over reacted a little. I think I have fallen pretty hard for you and it felt like you were cutting me out already. We are partners and if we are going to make this work, we need to have really good communication. I recognize that during the course of our work there are going to be things we can't always share with each other. But we need to try and be as open as possible. And I need to know you trust me to do my job regardless of how dangerous things are. Just because a situation is less than safe does not mean you get to keep me from it. This thing between us will not last very long if you don't get that concept through that thick skull of yours." She countered, she felt they kept having this argument over and over and she didn't want to do it again.

"I completely agree and in retrospect I should have told you, but I have this overwhelming need to protect you." He replied apologizing further.

"You are going to need to fight that desire then because you can't protect me from everything." She reminded him firmly she was not a fragile doll and he couldn't treat her that way.

"I know but you can't really blame me for wanting to try" he said which earned him an immediate glare. "Or maybe you can" he quickly amended.

"All I am asking is that we talk, I am not an unreasonable person." She said with another sigh.

"I know you aren't and I promise we will talk I won't do things behind your back. So do you still want a divorce?" he asked her.

"Well… you kind of told me you love me so I don't think I do" she smiled back at him.

"That makes me very happy" he replied pulling her into his arms. "I wish I could say I'm not going to make any more mistakes but it would be a lie and I apologize in advance."

"We both will and you are absolutely right we only just started this relationship, there are going to be plenty of issues we need to work out all couples do." She agreed with him. "We haven't exactly started this whole relationship in a normal way" she added with a laugh.

"Hardly, we were sharing a bed long before we shared a kiss. Maybe when this is all over we could go out on a real date just the two of us, not trying to pretend we are married because we don't want some psycho to know we are police officers." He suggested and while he was slightly joking, they both knew it was true.

"I think that would be a great idea" she added. "Did we just have our first real fight and we didn't end up killing each other?" she asked him playfully.

"I think we did, if there weren't bombs all over the place I would say that deserves to be celebrated but instead how about you let me kiss you?"

"Sounds perfect" she sighed happily before he captured her lips with his. When they finally pulled apart she rested her head on his shoulder relaxing in his arms.

"Ah Sandra?" he said after a moment.

"Yeah" she replied closing her eyes.

"Why did you suggest we both would need to keep things from the other at work? I'm your boss why would you not tell me something?"

"Do you really want to ruin the moment with that question?" she warned him.

"Nope absolutely not" he countered kissing her once more. She was just about to direct him to the bed when a knock came at their door. They both looked at each other in terror. There was no reason someone should be trying to see them. Unless they had some plan that involved harming or killing them. There was another knock and the two remained frozen terrified to answer the door.

"Ah Mrs. Stewart you left your shoes in the spa" a voice came from the other side of the door.

"It's Gerry" she whispered letting out a sigh of relief. He nodded relaxing, quickly he released her and moved to opened the door.

"Hello" he greeted the other man knowing people might be watching. "Why don't you come in, thank you for bringing my wife's shoes back" he said inviting the man in as he stuck to their cover in case anyone heard them.

"Thank you and here are your shoes" Gerry said handing the sandals over to Sandra.

"Thank you Gerry" she said taking the shoes from him blushing slightly.

"So are you two speaking to each other again?" he asked eyeing both of them.

"Yes we worked this issue out" she assured him without going into any detail. He had no idea about their relationship and she was hoping to keep it that way for a little while longer.

"Good, so are you two going to tell me what is really going on?" he inquired giving them both a look not letting the issue go.

"What are you talking about?" she asked trying to appear innocent.

"Don't treat me like a fool I know a romantic spat when I see one remember I am the expert at causing them. So either you two have gotten so wrapped up in your roles that you are actually acting like you are really married. Or things have changed between you two since Saturday and a romance has genuinely blossomed." He replied calling them out and she knew it wouldn't work to lie to him but she didn't want to share everything with him.

"We have gotten closer" Robert answered and she nodded agreeing with his choice of words.

"Is there something I should know?" Gerry demanded.

"No" she replied immediately while at the same time Robert said "yes". She at once sent him a glare.

"Second mistake?" Robert replied weakly.

"You really weren't lying when you said you would make mistakes." She groaned at him. "Fine, yes Gerry we are now in a relationship, it started Tuesday night" she admitted. Her hoped of keeping their secret to themselves was now gone if Gerry knew Jack and Brian would as well. She had told Robert it would be a miracle if they made it through the week without one of the boys finding out and she had been right.

"Your little diversion turned into something more?" he asked too smart for his own good at that moment. The grin on his face made it clear that he was enjoying this a little too much.

"Yes it did, good to know you were listening very closely to what was going on" she huffed slightly.

"I was trying to make sure you two were safe, I was doing my job. I must say this is an interesting development but one I could have seen coming if I thought about it more before we sent you two here." He continued to grin at them and Sandra took that as a good sign, he wasn't upset by what they had done.

"I don't think it was exactly something we expected and we certainly didn't plan it but apart from that disagreement you just witnessed, I don't think it should have a negative impact on our work." She informed him trying to make it clear that this changed nothing as far as UCOS was concerned.

"You mean your fight where you shouted at him rather loudly? Was that your first fight as a couple?" he teased them.

"Yes it was but we talked it out and in the end I think it was a good thing we fought, we had a thing or two to talk about." Robert answered and she glared at him once more.

"You could stop over sharing at any moment" she told him.

"Sorry but he is part of your team and a very good friend he would find out on way or another" Robert replied and begrudgingly she had to admit he was right.

"Okay, well as much as I would love to keep talking about this new relationship of yours I actually had something important to tell you when you stormed out. Sir, the bomb squad is very happy you found a few of the bombs especially the one near the main building. But they would request you stop doing just about anything except going to dinner like a normal guest." Gerry informed them and Sandra was more than happy to comply.

"Ah…okay…" Robert answered as he was the real guilty party in all this.

"Don't worry, I have explained that you two have trouble with request such as this one but they want me to stress that you can do more help by keeping an eye on all the guests. They are pretty sure that if you keep wandering around you will accidentally get yourselves blown up. You have a few hours till dinner do you two think you can stay in here and relax while the bomb guys do their job?" Gerry asked them as if they were naughty school children.

"Yes Gerry" Sandra sighed at him only just managing not to roll her eyes. It had somehow managed to escape his mind that he along with Jack and Brian had ignored similar requests from her countless times.

"Good just don't relax too much and miss dinner and this shindig." He lectured them with a mischievous look in his eye.

"We will be there for dinner on time Gerry, no reason to worry." She assured him and her glare shot down his inappropriate thoughts. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Robert snickering and she chose to ignore him for the moment.

"Right, good and yet I still feel the need to say this" Gerry replied his voice suddenly becoming serious and he looked directly at her. "Sandra please stay in this room until dinner. These bomb guys know what they are doing and it is dangerous. I know we have clearly taught you both several bad tricks but this is me telling you to actually stay put." Gerry was practically begging them and Sandra knew there was no way she could tell him no even if she wanted to.

"This has to be a first" she commented instead and he only looked at her. "I promise you Gerry we will stay here until dinner. Neither of us have any desire to come face to face with a bomb or to impede the bomb squad." She assured him trying her hardest to convince him of their sincerity so he would stop this conversation.

"Great and when you go to dinner take your mobile with you. That way if we need to get in touch with the two of you and keep you updated we can." He requested in complete seriousness.

"More than happy to, it has felt strange not having it with me all week." She happily agreed, Sandra was done with that resort and their no mobile rule, things had gotten very serious and she needed to be in contact with her team at all times.

"Then I will leave you two alone, don't want anyone to become suspicious." He replied heading towards the door.

"Bye Gerry" she sighed and watched as the older man left their bungalow.

"Am I still in trouble?" Robert asked once they were alone.

"No and I forgive you" she replied with a smile.

"Good, now tell me—how would you like to relax for the next couple of hours?"

"I think you know, hell Gerry knows" she laughed.

"The bed it is perfect choice" he chuckled happily pulling her down on the bed with him.

"Remember we have to be on time for dinner" she told him as he tried to remove her clothes.

"I won't forget trust me" he promised.

"Should we actually be doing this right now while the place is littered with bombs? It feels wrong to be enjoying ourselves." She moaned as he peppered her now bare skin with kisses over her feeble objections.

"We have been all but ordered to remain in this room till dinner. Is there anything else you can think of that we could be doing instead?" He asked between kisses.

"No I guess there isn't" she conceded after a moment.

"Then relax and enjoy this time with me" he told her climbing on top of her.

"I can do that" she sighed happily before giving up her resistance and embracing the feelings he was causing in her. They had just had their first fight, after all, and they should be making up.

sssSSsss

"Can you zip me up?" Sandra called out as she stood in front of the mirror. Her reflection revealed a deep blue dress, the bodice was form fitting down through her abdomen and then flowed out at the waist with a sizable slit up the side. She had fallen in love with the dress the moment she tried it on and it had been hanging in her closet awaiting the right event. Given the personal developments between her and Robert this past week, she was glad she had chosen to bring the dress for tonight's dinner and dancing.

"You look exquisite and gorgeous" he told her and he kissed her shoulder after he finished zipping her up.

"Thank you" she replied as a giant smile spread over her entire face. She was thrilled to know that he liked her in this dress.

"I would love to take it right back off you at this moment." He informed her and the look of hunger in his eyes was unmistakable.

"Unfortunately we have to be at dinner tonight and we need to be there on time" she reminded him.

"I know" he moaned in frustration. "Tomorrow I am taking you home and we are going to spend the rest of the day in your bed, if that is okay with you?"

"How soon can we leave tomorrow?" she asked eagerly making it clear she completely agreed.

"I will make sure we will be out of here as soon as we possibly can" he promised her.

"Good now let's get this dinner over with and put Charles Bennett behind us." She told him firmly. She had a small clutch in one hand that was hiding her phone. With her other hand she took his and together they made their way through the door.

"Whatever you do make sure you stay on the sidewalk and stone walkways, they can't have bombs under them." He advised her as they walked towards the main building.

"I don't see any of the bomb squad techs, do you think something is wrong?" she asked him looking around concerned. She had expected to see a man here or there but there was no one in sight.

"I am sure everything is fine, Jack would have called you if something was wrong." He assured her and she knew he was right. "Take a deep breath and relax, one last night of pretend and then we go home." He whispered in her ear as they approached the door.

"I love you" she told him suddenly. The words just seemed to fly out of her mouth, it surprised her because _love_ wasn't a word she used, yet she knew it was true. Robert looked into her eyes and then kissed her. He had said the words earlier that day so she never doubted his feelings but his kiss told her everything she needed to know. As they pulled apart she suddenly wanted to turn around and run back to their room. It had nothing to do with a desire to have sex. She wanted to take Robert back to their bungalow so they could keep each other safe until all the bombs were removed. Instead they walked hand in hand into the dining room.

"Anne" Sandra greeted the woman warmly as they approached their table.

"Sandra, Robert I am so glad you are here" she cried happily.

"Where is Charles?" Sandra asked looking around as they sat down.

"My soon to be ex-husband just up and left me here. He is up to something and the first chance I get I will make him pay." She told them firmly before taking a drink of wine.

"I am so sorry" Sandra sympathized, though she wasn't surprised the man had said he was going to skip out during dinner.

"Charlie will be the one who is sorry. I don't care that he walked out but if he thinks he can rush off and avoid getting a divorce he has another thing coming." She growled drinking more wine. Once she was done Robert dutifully refilled her empty glass for her and poured Sandra and himself a glass as well.

"I hope you get everything you want from this divorce" Sandra replied and she truly meant it.

"Oh I will, now this is supposed to be a party come on let's celebrate." Anne ordered them becoming suddenly happy. Sandra and Robert exchanged glances and then picked up their own wine glasses trying to pretend to be excited.

In the middle of dinner Sandra's mobile began to ring. Thankfully the room was so loud most people couldn't hear it. She quickly retrieved her phone looking at the caller id with trepidation.

"It's Jack I'm going to step out, sorry" she informed Robert and apologized to Anne before she stood up and rushed for the door before either of them could say a word.

"Work?" she heard Anne ask.

"Not exactly, her assistant is getting stuff ready for us when we return tomorrow" Robert lied.

"Jack what's going on?" she asked as she walked away from the main building. She didn't want anyone to hear her but she made sure to stay on the sidewalk remembering Robert's earlier warning.

"Bennett has been spotted trying to board a plane to Glasgow. Officers are moving in. But Samuel Ellis is not with him, we are looking for him, he might still be at the resort. Keep an eye out for him, treat him as highly dangerous, he likely knows were all the bombs are." He warned her speaking quickly.

"Will do, thanks for the update Jack but I need to get back to dinner before people notice." She replied hurriedly ending the call.

"Sandra" she heard a man call her name and she turned around looking for the source. The next thing she felt was a blinding pain as she was hit in the head and the whole world went black.

sssSSsss

Sandra groaned as consciousness returned to her. She opened her eyes and for a moment she was afraid she couldn't see. It took several moments for her eyes to adjust and she realized she was in an empty bungalow in the dark. The one side of her forehead throbbed worse than any hangover she had ever had. She quickly realized it was the source of most of her pain and she moved to touch it. Only then did she realize her hands were tied to the arms of the chair she was sitting on. She struggled against the ropes but it did no good. Her senses were slowly returning to her and only when she stopped struggling with her arms did she discover that her legs were bound as well. Fighting those ropes proved to be useless as well. With her extremities and her torso tightly bound to the chair she knew there was little chance of escape on her own. What annoyed her more was the thick tape that covered her mouth. It was equally uncomfortable and it meant she couldn't call for help either.

She didn't understand why someone would hit her on the head, knocking her out just to tie her up and leave her in an empty bungalow. Did they plan to come back? Or was she merely trapped here until someone found her. Robert would begin to miss her soon and even if he couldn't manage to find her housekeeping would likely be in to refresh the room come morning. Yet the idea of spending all night tied up did not appeal to her and she let out a frustrated cry that was muffled by the tape. The chair was not incredibly comfortable but what was worse was the continued throbbing in her head. The side of her face felt wet, she suspected it was blood but she couldn't touch it to make sure. She tried to let out a sigh but was less than successful, then she tried to rest her head on her shoulder and that didn't work well either.

 _What the bloody hell_

Her eyes began to adjust to the dark even further and she was suddenly alert and desperately trying to look around her. Not only were there ropes tied around her but there were wires as well. She followed the wires with her eyes and she discovered they were twisted around her. This information caused the hole in her stomach to grow bigger. All the wires connected to something under the chair. Yet Sandra didn't need to see it to know she was sitting on a bomb courtesy of Charles Bennett. The only question was how the bomb was to be detonated. If there was a timing device she couldn't see how much time was left. Though in this day and age she knew that a call from a mobile phone would be enough to set it off. She now understood exactly why she had been left alone in an unused dark bungalow. It would be one of the last places people would look for her and by the time they did it might be too late.

 _No…no…nonononono… NO…no this can't be happening_.

Fear and anxiety began to take over and it was hard to breath. She fought against the ropes once more with all her strength and then she stopped suddenly. A worse thought entered her brain. Could she set the bomb off by moving around too much? She froze trying to remain as still as possible. There was literally nothing she could do to save herself, she was dependent upon someone finding her. Sandra hated being dependent upon people, she was used to being self-sufficient.

 _Robert_

She initially wanted him to find her, she had already decided she was willing to be dependent on him. But the more she thought about it the more she came to one conclusion. It would be better if he didn't find her. It was too dangerous he could end up setting the bomb off killing both of them. She was strapped to a bomb and had a good chance of being killed and she was willing to accept that she might die, but she couldn't bear the thought of him dying as well. If she had any luck left one of the bomb guys would discover her and disarm the bomb saving her.

The problem was she wasn't feeling very lucky at the moment. And one question kept running through her head:

 _What did I do wrong to get caught_

sssSSsss

Robert looked at his watch for the third time in five minutes. Sandra had yet to return and he was beginning to worry. He hadn't take notice of the time when she got up to leave. The main course had just been served and their afternoon had left him hungry. He blamed his hunger for not immediately noticing her lack of speedy return. Only when he finished his food did he realize that she had not come back into the dining room. That had been nearly twenty minutes ago and he was flat out worried. While it was possible that her team had found something that required her attention even then he would have expected her to come back for him if something truly had occurred.

"Looks as though your wife has run away as well" Anne joked.

"I'm sorry?" he replied as he was lost in thought and had only heard half of what the woman had said.

"I made a joke about Sandra not coming back, don't worry Robert I'm sure she hasn't actually run away" Anne replied putting her hand on his arm tying to reassure him that her joke was just a joke.

"You didn't see her come back in and head to the loo by any chance?" he asked hopefully.

"No I'm sorry but that doesn't mean that isn't where she is" she tried again to make him feel better.

"Yes of course you're right" he agreed though he didn't actually believe it was likely.

"You said that call was from her assistant?"

"Yes and it could have been about work. Which is exactly the reason we aren't supposed to bring them I know but Sandra can be hard to reason with." He sighed in frustration knowing the actual reason for the call was entirely work related.

"Don't worry I have mine back in the bungalow. I personally feel most rules are meant to be broken. But do you think the call could be serious enough that she has to deal with it right now?"

"Yes you might be right I think, I should have a look around and see if I can find her make sure no one has been hurt or something like that" he replied standing up.

"Good plan I will stay here and keep an eye out, if she comes back I promise I won't let her leave. We can't have both of you disappearing" she promised him with a smile.

"Thank you Anne" he said before nearly bolting out of the room to begin his search. On his way he asked several of the servers if they had seen her and they all said no. He checked the bathrooms just in case as well as the offices. He didn't think she would go poking around without him but he had to check. When he came up empty he returned to the main hall and went through the door she had used to leave the building.

He suddenly felt foolish for not insisting that he bring his mobile phone with him as well. They all thought Sandra's phone would be enough to make any calls. But now she was missing and she had taken the phone with her making it harder to get in touch with her team.

Outside he looked around, there was no immediate sign of her much to his dismay. He had secretly hoped to find her standing there still on the phone talking to Jack. Keeping to the sidewalks he rushed back to their bungalow only to find it dark and empty. He needed to get in touch with Jack and to do that he needed a phone. The only phones were the ones back in the main building and reluctantly he set off the way he came. He wanted to run as fear for Sandra's safety had turned to near panic. But he didn't want to risk arising suspicion, using all the control he had he walked quickly back towards the dining hall. He was only a few meters away from the door when the light caught something under one of the bushes. He knelt down and picked up Sandra's mobile phone and his heart jumped into his throat. He couldn't breathe for a moment and he tried to come up with some reason why she would have left her phone under the bush but came up with nothing. Something was wrong, very wrong. Sandra was missing. He checked the phone to make sure it wasn't damaged and when it wasn't he used it.

"Sandra?" Jack answered on the third ring sounding confused.

"Jack it's me" he replied impatiently.

"Sir may I ask my you are using Sandra's phone?"

"Please tell me she is with you?" he practically begged the man.

"No she isn't why? What's going on?" Jack demanded as fear began to creep into his voice as well.

"I can't find her, she never came back after you called her, she never came back." He cried the terror dripping from his voice. Something was very wrong.

"That was nearly an hour ago" Jack exclaimed.

"I found her phone under a bush. Something is wrong Jack I think someone has taken her."

"Bloody hell, where have you looked?"

"Everywhere I could think of, the main building and our bungalow no sign of her." He replied becoming impatient, they needed to be doing something to find her right now.

"She is likely still on the grounds somewhere. Where are you?" Jack asked him.

"Outside the main building, the back side facing the bungalows. We have to find her Jack" he demanded becoming almost hysterical.

"I know but we need to be careful. I am coming to you right now, stay exactly where you are, nothing is safe at the moment."

"Right, hurry Jack" he pleaded with the older man as he hung up the phone.

A minute or two later he saw two officers and Jack come around the building and one of the officers had a dog with him. Robert had never been so happy to see them and he almost hugged Jack but wisely held his emotions back.

"Sir" Jack cried out at they reached him.

"We need to find her" he repeated himself when he was close enough to the older man.

"I know, sir this is Tom and this is Sid they are here to help. Tom over there with Trixie is going to lead the way. Trixie is really good at smelling for bombs if she barks you freeze exactly where you are understand?" Jack asked explaining the rules of the search to him as he introduced the other two men.

"Yes please we just need to find her, where do you think we should start?" He asked frantically, the addition of the bomb sniffing dog had sent his anxiety level through the roof. The situation was highly dangerous and Sandra was out there somewhere.

"If you wanted to hide someone around here the bungalows are the likely place. I say we start with the empty ones." Jack suggested taking a quick look around.

"Agreed" he nodded eager to begin and slowly Tom and Trixie lead the way. "I don't understand why someone would take her?" he added as they walked.

"Bennett clearly suspected her or you and he took her to hurt you, he does think she is your wife" Jack pointed out.

"So all of this could be my fault?" he moaned in dismay. He began running over every conversation he had with the horrible man trying to find where his mistake had been.

"Possibly or he could be lashing out at his own wife by taking someone she was friendly with. When we get Bennett we can ask him."

"Jack I think you should know Sandra and I-"

"Gerry already told me, we can discuss that later once we find her." Jack told him firmly trying to end the conversation but he wasn't ready to stop yet he needed to make something clear.

"Then you can understand why I keep telling you we have to find her. I know you and Gerry and Brian care deeply for her but I…I love her Jack."

"We are going to find her and your relationship status has no bearing on how hard we look" the older man growled at him.

"Sorry I didn't mean to suggest…that was not my intention…"

"I know you didn't and I'm sorry, I know how you are feeling. Sandra is important to all of us and we will find her." Jack told him with a sigh. "Not exactly used to sharing her with others if you must know" he grumbled.

"I understand, but Jack I will never forgive myself if something happens to her, this is all my fault."

"What did I just say, we will find her and this is not your fault, this is Charles Bennett's doing no one else." Jack told him leaving no room for argument.

A/N Sorry to end on a bit of a cliffhanger, I usually try to avoid them but this seems like a natural place to end the chapter. Thank you for reading!


	10. Chapter 10

**Undercover**

 _Disclaimer- I own nothing I wish I did but I just get to play with the characters_

Chapter 10

Sandra had never wanted to stand up more in her life. She hated being stuck to this chair, tied to a bomb. How had things gone so wrong? Up to the point when she was hit on the head, she would have declared the week a success, they were on the verge of arresting Charles Bennett. Even the bombs were being taken care of and no one was likely to get hurt. And then she woke up sitting on a bomb and her entire world was turned upside down.

 _I should have expected this._

Bad things always seemed to occur when she thought she might actually get to be happy. She had been excited to leave this place with Robert, a whole new relationship to explore. Yet now, unless she managed a miracle, she was never to going to leave this resort alive. How had their light undercover work turned deadly so fast? She wished they had both left the day before when the team had suggested it. Why had they been so caviler? They had what they needed they should have left. Why did they ever think staying was the better option?

Her afternoon spent in bed with Robert Strickland now felt like another lifetime ago. Mere hours earlier they were happy, practically carefree, absolutely relaxed and with one wrong move the world had become deathly dangerous for her. She could barely wrap her head around the position she was now in. It seemed impossible to go from spending the week by the pool talking to Anne and unknowingly falling in love with her boss to now sitting on a bomb that was likely going to kill her. The whole situation had become far worse than Sandra could have ever imagined. And the worse part of all was that there was nothing she was able to do about it, all she could was sit there and think.

On top of everything she couldn't stop thinking about all the people she likely would never see again. Her relationship with her mother had never been great and one conversation alone could never sort them out and Sandra knew that. But she wanted the chance to tell her mum that despite all their fights she always loved her even if she didn't know how to show it. She felt terrible leaving her mother this way, her father had left and now, even though it was against her will, she would leave her mother completely alone.

Then there were her boys, she loved them all. Yes, they drove her crazy most of the time but she wouldn't trade them for anything. They were the reason she had stayed in the job for so long. For the first time she had finally found a place she felt like she belonged, she had found a family. Her plan had been to stay with UCOS for the foreseeable future but clearly fate had a different idea. She hated that they might be nearby when this bomb when off and she prayed to a god she didn't really believe in that they would not be hurt. Sandra was more than willing to give her life so they would be safe. At least then her death might be for something, as it was it would be just another crime to add to Bennett's growing list.

Her mind kept coming back to Robert. For so long her was just her boss, the one she could never quite figure out or understand. And then she spent a few days with him and suddenly she understood. She had never been able to figure him out because the image he projected at work was not who he really was. He was funny, smart, and above all caring. She wished she had discovered these feelings for him sooner, she wished they had discovered these feeling for each others earlier, she wished they had more time together, more memories. And yet she knew it was better this way, their few days together would give her enough to build fantasies on as she waited to die. It would be easier on him as well, he would be hurt but their short affair would be easier to move on from than if they had had a far longer relationship. At least that was the lie she kept telling herself. Either way the whole situation was terrible and once more she searched her brain for some way out of this win-less situation. Even if she could get free she had no idea how to disarm a bomb. But if she could just get the tape off her mouth she could call for help, the bomb squad was all around. Yet no matter how hard she tried the tape refused to give up its hold and the ropes binding her to the chair where secure and tight.

It didn't help that the bump on her head hurt like hell and it made it hard to think at times. Her thoughts and emotions felt all over the place. She couldn't help but jump from one thought to another without much control and most of them were unhappy depressing thoughts. She would normally describe herself as a realist who liked to think optimistically but there was little optimism to be found in her current situation.

 _Maybe my head wound is to blame for all these melodramatic thoughts._

She wanted to live and without intervention she couldn't make that happen. She felt the urge to cry building up inside her and she clamped down on it with all she had left. There was no way she would cry, she refused.

 _Good thing no one can hear you because you sound rather depressing._

The one thing that had truly begun to frustrate her was her stomach. It felt the need to growl at her, repeatedly reminding her that she hadn't eaten dinner. The last thing she cared about was food but her stomach clearly felt differently. She tried yelling at it to shut up but it was in a complete state of defiance and refused to listen.

 _How can I possible be hungry at a time this this?_

The waiting was still the worse part of all. She was waiting to be discovered and waiting to die.

 _Please someone find me._

sssSSsss

When Robert and Sandra had first arrived at the resort he had thought the fifty or so bungalows that made up the majority of the resort were a small number. Yet now, as the little group was forced to search each one for Sandra, the number seem to have tripled. Only thirty of the bungalows were occupied and that left over twenty empty ones to search first. If it were just him Robert would have been racing from one structure to the other as fast as he could. But the bomb squad officers and their dog where in control of their slow pace and he was powerless to do anything about. To say he was frustrated beyond belief would have been a vast understatement.

"We are moving too slow" he growled to Jack softly unable to hold his tongue any longer.

"Would you rather get blown up?" Jack asked him as if he were a child.

"If she is hurt she could die before we get to her" he moaned.

"We won't do her any good if we get ourselves killed in the process." Jack reminded him but it didn't make him feel any better.

"We need to find her right now" he demanded loud enough for all to hear. He was the DAC, the one actually in charge and they should be listening to him, he told himself.

"I'm sorry sir but we can't go any faster if we did Trixie could miss a bomb." Tom informed him taking the wind right out of Robert's sails. He literally had no other option but to do as these men instructed. Yet that did nothing but increase the fear and dread he felt inside. He felt like he was letting Sandra down.

He told her he loved her and yet not hours later he hadn't been paying enough attention to notice she was missing. He did love her and that meant it was his job to protect her, to find her and to make sure she would be okay. He was failing at his job and that made him feel useless and convinced him he had let her down. He knew to some people his actions and emotions seemed out of place, they had barely been a couple for more than a few days but that hid the fact that he had cared about her for a lot longer. Just because she had been a work colleague didn't mean he couldn't care about her and be concerned for her. In all honesty it had been more than that, he had harbored feeling for her for quite a while, so to him if didn't feel as if their relationship was brand new. He cared for her do much and he knew that if something where to happen to her he would never forgive himself.

Robert looked back up at the two officers and their German Shepard. Trixie had only barked once shortly after they had begun their search. Sid put down a marker on the patch of upturned grass and they had simply moved on leaving it for another group to investigate further. At each building they stopped as Trixie would sniff around the entire perimeter of the building before they moved on to the next one. It took a good amount of time and had yet to result in anything useful. Robert was beginning to feel depressed and forlorn about the whole situation. Maybe Sandra wasn't even on the grounds anymore, maybe one of Bennett's men had kidnapped her and taken her away somewhere. If that were the case it would be a lot harder if not impossible to find her unless they called with a ransom demand. A sense of hopelessness was beginning to set in and then he heard a bark.

They had approached the next empty bungalow and were still several feel away when the dog began to bark wildly and had to be restrained. Whatever she smelled was very strong and most likely highly dangerous and defiantly explosive. Quickly looking around he was sure this was not the bungalow they had found Bennett and Ellis in the night before. That mean the dog was not simply smelling any leftover remains of the bombs original components, there was little doubt in his mind that a large explosive device was nearby.

Tom immediately held up his hand halting them in their tracks. Both officers began shinning their torches over the ground looking for signs of disturbance. Slowly the men and Trixie inched their way towards the door and began inspecting it. All the while Trixie continued to bark emphatically. Robert's heart was in his throat, he couldn't breathe and he exchanged nervous glances with Jack. If Sandra was in there they needed to find a safe way in or they could all end up dead. There was no way to know what exactly they would find on the other side of the door.

The waiting was the worst part.

sssSSSsss

At first Sandra thought she was going crazy, she could swear she heard a dog barking. She thought maybe she had fallen asleep or her head wound was causing delusions. Yet the barking got louder and louder. Then she could see light shining through the cracks in the door. In that moment she knew she wasn't crazy. She began to scream and yell against the thick tape covering her mouth. She wanted someone to hear her, she needed someone to hear her. While Sandra had no idea if someone could actually hear her it didn't matter she was going to keep trying until she had no strength left.

After a long period of time- that felt like an eternity to her- the door finally opened and then all she could see was a bright light. She closed her eyes and then squinted against the light trying unsuccessfully to see beyond the light. Unable to use her hand to shield her eyes from the light she therefore had no idea who was at the door, she only hoped it was someone who could help and not one of Bennett's men come to finish her off. Her chest was filled with both hope and fear. Ultimately she wished they would lower the light and end the suspense one way or the other.

sssSSsss

After a near endless wait the two officers finally opened the door of the bungalow very slowly. Once the door was open Robert and Jack were immediately at their side trying to see in as Tom and Sid held them back. Robert scanned the room and his eyes quickly found her. Sandra was tied to a chair tape was over her mouth gagging her. Thanks to the torch light he could see her face clearly and he didn't like what he saw. To his dismay he could see a trail of blood running down the left side of her face.

"Sandra" he cried pushing to get to in, but to his frustration the officer and Jack held him back stopping him from getting anywhere near her.

"No sir you can't" one of the men cried out.

"But I need to free her, she's hurt" he argued emotionally.

"She is sitting on a bomb" Tom warned him.

"What?" he demanded in shock and dread but he stopped fighting. He had forgotten for the moment about their search and Trixie's wild barks. She was tied up outside but if she had been with them she would have still been barking.

"She is sitting directly on a bomb and if what I am seeing is correct there are two separate detonators. There is a timing device and a pressure sensor. If anyone walks too far into the room it will set the bomb off killing them and her." Sid tried to explain to him the severity of the situation and it hit him like ton of bricks.

"What does all this mean exactly?" he asked carefully as dread crept up inside him.

"It means that if you walk into that room you will set off the bomb and kill all of us as I said. And if we don't find a way to deactivate the pressure sensor and the timing device in the next…three hours or so it will go off and kill her." Sid explained further causing a hole to open up in the bottom of Robert's stomach.

"You can disarm them both can't you?" he begged them

"We'll try" Tom replied not giving him the reassurance and confidence he was looking for.

"Try? You better do more than try" he growled in frustration.

"Sir, now is not the time to fight with them" Jack reminded him.

"Yes, right sorry" he agreed taking a deep breath and then he turned his attention to the person who truly mattered. "Sandra" he called looking at her. "Stop shining that light in her face, you are blinding her." He demanded when he saw her squinting. To his relief the officers listened and slowly he saw her open her eyes.

"Sandra can you hear me?" he asked her and she nodded her head yes. "Good, we are going to get you out of there but it might take a little time. Everything will be alright I promise" he told her trying to remain positive. She didn't need to know any of the issues the bomb squad might face she only needed to know that she would be saved.

To his dismay he watched as the tears began to fall from her eyes. He hated that they were separated by several meters. He felt he had to yell to talk to her and there was no way he could comfort her. And that was all he wanted to do in that moment. He wanted to stop her tears and take away her fear. That was his job and yet he couldn't even do that for her.

sssSSsss

The entire time Sandra had spent sitting along in the dark she had told herself she was not allowed to cry and she had managed to listen. Yet the moment she could actually see and hear Robert she burst into tear. She had no idea why they had just started but now that they had she couldn't seem to stop them.

Robert was there in the doorway talking to her and she could only respond by shaking her head yes or no. The situation was highly frustrating and still dangerous even though she had been found. All she wanted to do was speak to him and touch him and instead she was trapped in a chair on top of a bomb.

"Everything will be alright" he told her and she nodded though neither of them completely believed it.

"Sir we are going to need to call in for more officers. We should probably step back while we wait." An officer told him, she figured he was from the bomb squad as was the other officer with him. She didn't want Robert to leave but she literately had no say in the matter.

"Call in whoever you need, you will get her out of there, she is a police officer and we are not letting that bomb go off while she is sitting there. But I am not moving" he ordered the two officers firmly.

"Please" the other man begged him.

"No I'm not leaving her. Are you moving Jack?" He asked and only then did she notice the older man was there as well.

"I'm good where I am" Jack confirmed and this only made her tears appear faster much to her confusion.

"Fine but we are going to need you to move once the others get here, space is limited at the moment and we are going to need it all." The original officer informed them and she was happy to know that they wouldn't be disappearing right away. Robert nodded but remained silent as he kept continuous eye contact with her.

"Right" the man acknowledged and he pulled out a radio before stepping away taking the light of his torch with him.

"Can we look into turning the lights on?" Jack inquired.

"Yes we can do that while we wait" the remaining officer confirmed. He turned to leave taking his light with him as well.

"Sergeant we are going to need at torch of our own if both of you are leaving" Jack reminded him. It took a few moments and then the light returned this time in Jack's hands.

"Are you hurt?" Robert asked her when it was just the three of them. She nodded her head yes and even that minimal movement seemed to cause her some pain.

"Okay, we'll make sure we have paramedics here to check you out once you are free" Jack promised her. She knew he was trying to be helpful but she honestly didn't care about being checked out by some medics. The only thing she wanted was to be free and then she just wanted to be safely in Robert's strong arms where she would finally be able to relax.

"Sandra I know this looks bad but we have a whole team of officers who disarm bombs for a living. We will get you out of there." Robert told her firmly and she wanted to believe him so she nodded in agreement. She kept thinking that the whole situation would be so much easier if she could just talk to them.

"I love you and I am not going to let Charles Bennett take you away from me. Do you understand?" He told her forcefully and she nodded once more. Over the last few minutes her tears had slowed but his words professing his love reminded her of everything she had to lose. The words felt so final as well and she couldn't help but cry harder.

"Listen Sandra things are about to get pretty busy around here. They are going to make us move outside, out of the way, but I promise you we are not going to leave you. Even if you can't see us we will be right out there. Gerry and Brian are on their way and they will be here waiting for you as well. We are not going to leave you alone." Jack told her and the conviction in his voice matched Robert's. She wanted to yell and beg them not leave her field of vision. She wanted to be able to see them but she couldn't argue and deep down she understood why they had to step back. She couldn't admit it even if she had wanted to but she was scared.

Her heart swelled when she heard that Gerry and Brian were on their way. She knew how much these men cared about her and she never had really thanked them in the past. She would never trade her team for another no matter who asked her to. She wanted to tell them how she felt. She needed to tell them and she cursed the damn tape that was preventing her.

"You can turn the light on from where you are it's safe" she heard a voice call out to Jack and Robert. A moment later the room was flooded with light and it took a few seconds for their eyes to adjust.

"Bloody hell" Jack exclaimed as she watched him survey the room with his eyes. His words did nothing to help her anxiety and fears. She looked over at Robert with panic in her eyes begging him to tell her what they could see.

"Don't worry there are just a lot more wires on the floor than we had been able to see in the dark. That is probably good news it means these guys can see more of what they are dealing with." Robert explained and he did manage to make her feel better.

"Okay Sandra the bomb team is here, we are going to take a few steps outside but we are not leaving." Jack reiterated before disappearing from her view.

"I love you" Robert repeated before he too disappeared. She knew they hadn't left her but no longer being able to see them made her feel that she wasn't going to see them again.

 _Stop crying please stop crying_

She begged herself over and over to stop crying but it was no good. Her anxiety began to rise once more and with it her tears. She was genuinely afraid she would never see either of them again. She had no idea what was about to happen and the officers who suddenly appeared did not look interested in explaining anything to her. She simply closed her eyes and let the tears come.

sssSSsss

Outside the bungalow Robert paced the ground beneath a nearby tree. Even though he wasn't the one tied to a chair he still felt like a caged animal. The bomb squad had marked off where it was safe to stand, their spot under the tree was the closest place they could find to Sandra. A multitude of bomb technicians appeared and swarmed around the small building bringing with them a variety of gadgets, monitors and other pieced of technology.

He wanted to know what was happening inside and what they were planning on doing. Yet he understood that if he asked questions the techs would have to spend time answering them instead of disarming the bomb and every second might count. Sandra was the only thing at mattered. So instead he paced.

"Sir" Jack called getting his attention. He turned to find Gerry and Brian rushing towards them.

"Stick to the marked areas those have been cleared." Jack warned them before they could make a wrong step.

"Is she okay?" Gerry asked gasping for air as he tried to catch his breath.

"For the moment yes" Jack replied somberly.

"But there is a bomb in there?" Brian asked far less out of breath.

"Yes she is tied to a chair on top of a bomb which has both a pressure sensor and a timer." Jack continued to explain which was fine with Robert as he was not in the mood to do it himself.

"But they can disarm it right?" Brian pushed looking around.

"It could take a while and we only have three hours left…less now" Jack told him honestly.

"How did this happen?" Gerry growled looking right at Strickland.

"She stepped outside to answer Jack's call and someone attacked her." Robert answered trying to ignore the anger directed at him.

"Why didn't you go with her?" Gerry demanded.

"We didn't want to arise suspicion" he shot back.

"You were supposed to be looking out for her and protecting her" Gerry yelled at him.

"Don't you think I know that" Robert yelled back.

"Gerry stop, this isn't his fault, I called her. Stepping outside was the right decision, we all knew how dangerous this was becoming. This is Bennett's fault and you yelling at him isn't helping anyone." Jack shouted at the other man and Gerry backed down immediately.

"You're right I'm sorry. How is she actually doing?"

"She was hit on the head. I could see blood. I'm sure her head hurts." Jack answered him flatly.

"That doesn't actually answer my question Jack" Gerry pointed out.

"She is scared" Robert answered softly. "And we can't make her feel better because we're stuck out here." He growled and kicked the grass with his shoe.

"Her mouth is covered with tape so we spoke to her but all she could do was nod." Jack informed him sadly, filling in more of the picture.

"And cry" Robert added. They were all silent after his statement.

"She will be fine these guys disarm bombs all the time." Gerry told them pulling the other three out of their thoughts and back to reality.

"We don't know that for sure and I promise you she doesn't feel that way right now. You didn't see the fear in her eyes. She is going through hell and no one is even there to hold her hand." Robert moaned in despair.

"Everything will be fine once she is free" Brian told him.

"But she is all alone in there, those guys are paying no attention to her. No one is there to distract her." He argued becoming even more depressed.

"There isn't room for any of us" Brian argued.

"She is strong she'll come through this" Jack assured him.

"That doesn't matter she shouldn't be alone, no one should have to go through that alone." He cried in frustration his voice laced with pain.

"We all agree with you but there is nothing we can do. There isn't much room in there and these guys are vital to get her safely out of the building. If there is any room you will be the first one in." Jack promised him putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I know you three feel the same way it is just so frustrating to stand here doing nothing." He said with a sigh.

"We will be here for her the moment she is free that is all we can do and any suffering we have to go through emotionally is nothing compared to what she is going through. We can and will make it through this." Jack told them all firmly and they nodded in agreement.

"It is just cruel to have us out here just out of reach, this can only be making it worse for her." He moaned once more dropping his head as his shoulders slumped.

"She is strong, she can do it" Gerry sad softly.

sssSSsss

Jack's warning that things were about to get busy was a drastic understatement. In less than five minutes the doorway of the bungalow began to feel more like Paddington Station. She watched in shock as a vast number of different people began looking around shinning lights into every inch of the room. Then she could see and hear them unloading a whole bunch of tech equipment. She had no idea how any of it worked or how they were going to get her off this bomb before it exploded. Yet it was comforting to no longer be alone, though this seemed to go in the opposite direction to the extreme. When she was sitting in the dark it was just her versus a bomb. Now it felt like it was all those officers versus a bomb and she was just another element or prize for their success. She had always been helpless to save herself but now it felt more glaringly obvious, she no longer felt a factor at all.

She felt ignored, now it was all about man and machine. It was a good thing she had never secretly wanted to be a damsel in distress because she certainly wasn't being treated like a princess in a tower who needed rescuing. Sandra wasn't even sure this was about rescuing her, it felt that this was all about beating the bomb. She was being ignored and completely uninvolved in her own rescue, she was a witness and not a participant. She did understand that it would take up valuable time to explain things to her. Yet she was the one who was going to get blown sky high if they failed. In all honesty she was feeling slightly put out. She didn't want all these peoples fussing over her but there had to be some middle ground where they at least acknowledged her existence. Her tears had been extinguished first by shock and thanks to her current displeasure they weren't likely to start again soon. She couldn't even huff or fold her arms over her chest to show her disdain. She was a prisoner in every way and completely ignored.

With little option, she watched the officer's work and she had to admit they did provide a good distraction. Then she began to wonder if they could do it in the time she had left. She longed to ask them but she couldn't even get their attention. Additionally with the lights now on she could see the clock on the wall. This meant she could track how long it was taking them. She alternated between watching the bomb team and watching the clock, as time passed the hole in her stomach returned. And after a full hour her displeasure had been swallowed up by anxiety once more. They were quickly running out of time. By her own calculations they were down to about an hour left, that was when two familiar faces appeared in her doorway.

"Sandra" Gerry called, a forced smile plastered on his face and it did little to make her feel better.

"Hi Sandra" Brian called out, he had a genuine smile and a look of awe on his own face. "Isn't it fascinating everything they have now?" He added looking around surveying the room and what the bomb squad had done. She was glad someone was getting some enjoyment out of all this.

"I don't think she really care about that" Gerry commented smacking the other man's arm.

"Oi why not?" Brian asked confused.

"She is sitting on the bomb."

"Well yes but all these people are working on it" Brian argued.

"That is not guaranty it won't go off." He hissed loudly to the other man. "But you have nothing to worry about Sandra these guys are the best. They are part of the counter terrorism group." He said trying to cover his slip. She nodded and tried to smile but it was still impossible with the tape covering her mouth.

"Sandra" Gerry began again. "Once we get you out of here you have to promise never to do this again. You have almost giving Strickland a heart attack. That is really not a nice thing to do to the poor guy" he joked.

"Just so you know things are going to get really interesting, they are going to send a robot in and we have to move back. You have to tell me what happens since we can't watch." Brian told her completely serious and oblivious to how she might not feel as interested as he was.

"Time to go" Gerry cried pushing Brian away. "Don't listen to him, just relax this should be all over soon and we will be out here waiting for you." Gerry promised her before he disappeared as well and he was immediately replaced by Robert.

"Sandra they are going to try and disarm the pressure sensor. To do this they have to use a robot. They are forcing us to move further back but we are not leaving you. There is about forty-five minutes' left on the timer. They expect this to take fifteen to twenty minutes and that will leave them plenty of time to disarm the rest of the bomb. I love you and everything is going to turn out just fine I promise. Together, we are walking out of here together, tomorrow morning just as we planned." He told her firmly trying to remain strong. He hesitated for a moment then he too disappeared. And she was left completely alone once more. A minute or two later this small robot made its way into the room and slowly moved toward her. She clenched the chair with her hand and winced as she expected the bomb to explode. And yet it didn't.

The small robot began to move around her and the area in front of her clearly controlled by the techs outside. He moved too slow for her liking and she couldn't help but watched the clock as he slowly worked. When the time keeping device told her that the robot had been working for twenty-one minutes she was pretty sure she was experiencing a full panic attack. They were going to run out of time. She was going to die, all this work was for nothing and only provided her with false hope. Her chest felt tight and then the tears came again. Still the robot continued to work unburdened by the time. When the clock went pasted thirty minutes she thought she might pass out. Her mind was screaming at her but she couldn't put a voice to it. Another minute passed and she remained conscious much to her surprise and then she heard what sounded like a cheer from outside the bungalow. She suddenly felt a kernel of hope inside her. Seconds later several officers came rushing into the room, three began to examine the base of the chair while two other retrieved the robot.

"Let me in" she heard Robert yell and she looked up to see him fighting with of the officers trying to get into the room. He really wasn't having a good night, unaccustomed to being told no in general, he had been stopped by just every member of the bomb squad. She felt bad for putting him through all of this and she wished she could apologize to him.

"Sir you must stay out there it is still not safe. And we don't have much time, you don't want to be in the way." A female officer told him, Robert really was not use to being ordered around and Sandra could see he was having a difficult time accepting someone else's decisions.

"Can you at least remove the tape?" he pleaded with the officer, thankfully for all of them he had stopped fighting.

"We don't have the time, now I need you to step back to a safe distance." She ordered him firmly leaving no room for further arguing.

"Okay" he agreed reluctantly, he had very little choice in the matter but she could tell he was once more far from happy about it. "Together Sandra, we leave here together" he said again looking right at her and she nodded. He then disappeared and she fought hard not to cry. If she was going to die she was not going to die crying.

Now there were only three men left in the room with her they were all huddled on the floor around her chair. They were talking very fast between each other and she couldn't understand most of what was said. The ticking clock suddenly sounded very loud in her ears as time quickly slipped away.

 _This is like the end of a bad film coming down to the last second._

Yet films were guaranteed to have a happy ending real life was not so neat and clean. If she could speak she would have made the officers promise to get out before the bomb went off if they couldn't stop it. She would have told them it was alright she understood not every bomb could be stopped. As long as everyone else got out and her boys and Robert were safe that was enough for her.

As the clock ticked on and the three men kept talking she feared her heart would explode or stop working all together. Then unexpectedly the men below her erupted in whoops and hollers of celebration and excitement. Their jubilation startled her and she was slightly confused as they continued to work ignoring her.

"Three minutes and seven seconds left, cutting it close this time Dave." One of the men said to the other.

"That lot only left me about thirteen minutes to work with Tim" Dave grumbled to his colleague.

They had stopped the bomb that much was clear to her. But she still wished one of them would just talk to her or even just look up and give her a thumbs up or some sign. The men ignoring her made the whole situation slightly anti-climactic. Yet they were still down there doing something with the bomb and that didn't make her feel safe. Did that mean to bomb wasn't completely disarmed? Could she still be blown up? The lack of communication was frustrating and stressed her out further.

 _Someone talk to me._

She screamed the words inside her mind but it did no good.

As she sat there Sandra no longer watched the clock now she looked down past the end of her dress trying in vain to see what they were doing. The bomb was directly below her and this meant most of what the men were doing was obstructed.

 _The waiting really is the worst part._

After what felt like an hour yet in reality was only fifteen minutes the men finally stood up. As they moved around the room Sandra could see that one of them was holding the explosive material in his hands. Slowly he turned around and walked out of the bungalow removing the object of her demise much to her relief.

"Matt go tell the boss he can come in now." Dave called at the other man who disappeared as well.

"Hello detective" Dave said finally speaking to her as his eyes met hers. "What do you say we get you off that chair?" He asked and she nodded emphatically. The man set to work cutting the wires and ropes confining her to the chair. Just as he finished she saw Robert rush in stopping next to Dave.

"There we are, you can get up now. You want me to remove that tape?" Dave asked once she was free.

"I can do that" Robert said his voice was the picture of authority and Dave immediately moved out of the way.

"Hello" he greeted her sweetly as he reached his hand out to help her up. She stood and nearly fell over, her legs didn't seem to remember how to work. "I got you" he promised wrapping his arms around her. When she was steady and required only one of his arms for support he reached towards her face.

"Ready?" he asked seeking permission before pulling the tape away. She eagerly nodded more than ready to speak once more. Even though the tape had been on her sweaty tear covered face for hours it still was stuck tight in places and she winced as it was pulled off. Sandra didn't care how much pain it caused she was simply happy to be entirely free once more. Now that her mouth was uncovered she took a deep breath for the first time in a really long time.

"Thank you" she replied with a grateful sigh but her voice came out a little scratchy clearly from not being used for several hours.

"I am so happy to hear your voice again" he gushed softly.

"Me too" she replied quietly.

"Let's get you out of here, can you walk?" he asked.

"Yes I think so" she told him though she wasn't completely confident in her reply.

With his help she managed to walk out of the bungalow and into the cool night air. She took another deep breath pulling the cool air into her lungs. She hadn't realized how warm the bungalow had gotten with all those people until she stepped outside.

"The paramedics are waiting for you in the main building" he informed her. She wanted to tell him she felt fine but she just nodded and let him guide her in that direction.

Gerry, Jack, and Brian rushed over and each flashed her a giant smile. Silently the men seem to know exactly where they were going and why as they fell right in step with her and Robert. The five of them made their way to the main hall together, they had to move slowly because she had trouble finding the energy to move. She could tell the boys all wanted to talk to her but thankfully they understood how she was feeling and remained silent. After all that time desperate to say something she now found she couldn't think of the words she needed and wanted to say. With the adrenaline no longer running through her body she was beyond exhausted and talking was no longer her top priority.

Areas that were deemed safe for walking had been marked off with police tape making it easy for them to walk around. The police presence was ten times what it had been when she and Robert had first left their bungalow for dinner, if not more. It did amaze her how different the scene looked now. Yet she reminded herself that a detective superintendent nearly getting blown up did usually receive the full attention of other officers in the Met.

The small group walked around to the front of the main building much to Sandra's relief. She didn't want to walk through the dining room where all the other guest likely where. She could only imagine how terrible she looked and the last thing she wanted was to face their questions or scare them all.

Two paramedics were waiting for them in the lobby and they introduced themselves as Meredith and Theo. They promised to get her fixed up and she simply nodded to them. At that moment she didn't even know what needed to be fixed, she was just happy she could remember their names ten seconds after she learned them. The expanded group took refuge in one of the offices that had previously been off limits. Robert directed her over to the largest sofas she had even seen and she gladly collapsed into it. He sat down next to her while Gerry, Jack and Brian fanned out through the room and the medics began their examination.

Meredith started by asking her several questions about her injuries while Theo began by taking her vitals. She was asked how long she was unconscious and the length of time she was tied up. The guys tried to provide answers to the questions she didn't have an answer for. The paramedics were both concerned about a concussion and they asked her even more questions. Once she correctly told them the year, who the Prime Minster was and managed to identify all the people in the room they were sufficiently assured she didn't have a serious head injury. Yet the two quickly agreed her head wound required stitches and Theo began this process right away.

Sandra didn't enjoy watching as they stitched her head up, she couldn't feel the pain thanks to a local anesthetic they administered first, yet it was still uncomfortable. She closed her eyes trying to relax and ignore what was happening as much as possible. Robert held her hand the whole time keeping her grounded which she greatly appreciated. Over the last few hours her body had gone through almost every emotion possible and now she was just flat out exhausted. She could still feel the pain from her other injuries but it was as if she was existing independent of it. Her senses felt muted along with her emotions as if she was simply floating through a cloud and she didn't actually mind the feeling. She wanted to lay her head back on the edge of the sofa but she knew that would cause problems for Theo and as he was the one with the needle she needed remain as still as possible. She had already caught herself almost doing it a few times and she did not want to get poked the wrong way. Reluctantly she decided she needed a distraction to keep her from giving into the relaxed state her body wanted to be in.

"Do we know how many bombs there are in total?" she asked surprising the men around her.

"Ah…are you sure you want to talk about that now?" Gerry asked her both unprepared and concerned.

"What would you prefer to talk we about? The weather? Golf? Please Gerry I think after living through all this I can talk about the situation at hand and our case. I need something to distract me." She replied frustration lacing her voice, she didn't need to be treated with kid gloves, at least not yet. At that moment nothing was really penetrating the fog in her brain. Right now all she wanted was Charles Bennett and his men in jail without anyone else getting hurt.

"Alright…they believe there are between fifteen and twenty bombs all over the resort" Jack answered reluctantly.

"They are more accurately land mines they all have pressure sensors. You step on one and it goes off when you try and move off it." Brian explained to her in slightly more detail. "Except the one you were sitting one it had a timer as well.

"Yes thank you Brian, we all know that part" Jack stopped him.

"So when did Bennett get them all in the ground?" she asked trying to work it all out in her muddled brain.

"Most likely throughout the day. He has a criminal enterprise he could get it done in a few hours. No one would really notice they would just look like landscaping guys." Gerry informed her.

"Do we have Bennett yet?" she asked sounding as exhausted as she felt.

"We are just waiting for him to show up for his flight. He is on all the watch lists everyone is looking for him. We will have him I promise" Jack reassured her, she knew they would get the man but she would have felt better if they had Bennett in custody already.

"We do have Ellis, though he isn't talking at the moment. And we are pretty sure he is the one who hit you." Brian told her and it was at least one bit of good news, if he had gotten away she would have been furious.

"Well that is something" she agreed with a sigh. With nothing else to say they all fell into silence while the medics finished stitching up her head.

"All done" Meredith told her placing a large bandage over her now stitched up wound.

"Thank you" Sandra replied softly.

"You need rest and plenty of water, you are dehydrated" Theo warned her.

"As long as you promise to get some sleep and drink plenty of fluids I see no need to take you to the hospital" Meredith explained further.

"I promise" she assured the paramedics and she meant it, she had no desire to go to the hospital.

"Don't worry we'll make sure she does" Jack promised them as well. She wanted to glare as him for his over protectiveness but she didn't have the energy.

"Good, make an appointment with your GP to get the stitches removed in about a week." Theo said giving her a few final instructions to follow as they packed up their supplies and soon disappeared out the door.

"Right we are going to get you some water and leave you to rest." Jack said firmly and the other two nodded leaving her no room to argue.

"And don't you worry we will go out and keep an eye on the bomb squad and anything that might have bearing on our case." Gerry assured her with a comforting smile.

"I'm going to stay with you" Robert added and his tone made it clear to everyone that this was not up for debate either. The three men only nodded once more and quickly left the room returning a few minutes later with as many bottles of water as they could carry. Jack handed her one and they put the rest on the nearby table.

"They should hold you for a few hours" Gerry said surveying all the bottles. There had be about twenty of them on the desk and she nearly burst out laughing at his comments.

"If you need more they got plenty in the kitchen" Brian added.

"I think this will be enough, thank you" she replied and she truly meant it. She knew this whole situation had been rough on them as well.

"We will let you get some rest" Gerry told her softly with an encouraging smile. A few moments later Sandra and Robert were left alone in the room and she couldn't hold back the sigh of relief that escaped her lips.

A/N I know very little about how bombs get dealt with in the real world which is why I didn't even try to go into detail :-) I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reading!


	11. Chapter 11

**Undercover**

 _Disclaimer- I own nothing I wish I did but I just get to play with the characters_

Chapter 11

"Sandra are you cold, you're shaking?" Robert asked once they were alone.

"I'm sorry what?" she replied. She had been staring at the door the three men had just walked through. His words broke through her clouded mind and she turned to look at him.

"I asked if you were cold, you are shivering" he repeated himself.

"I don't know" she told him honestly. She had no indication of how her body was feeling at that moment, it had started when she sat down with the paramedics and had only increased since that time.

"Okay that's fine" he assured her and she watched as he removed his dinner jacket and put it over her shoulders, she simply continued to stare at him. Her brain was having a hard time processing what she was seeing and hearing.

"Why don't you drink some water, you must be thirsty" he suggest pushing her slightly. She looked down at the bottle in her hand and it seemed like a good idea.

"Okay" she agreed. She drank most of the bottle before staring at him once more. She didn't know what to do or what to say. He took the bottle out of her hands before he spoke to her once more.

"Come here" he instructed her softly and he gently pulled her into his arms. She willingly went along and she rested her head on his chest as he wrapped her up in his arms. Now that she was in his arms she finally felt safe and cared for and it was as though the fog in her brain dissipated shattering like a pain of glass and all her emotions exploded. With no control left she burst into tears and clutched tightly to him. It was as though the reality of what she had been through finally began to sink in. She had been three minutes away from death.

"It's okay you are safe now" he told her as he rubbed her back trying to calm her.

"I thought I was going to die" she sobbed.

"I thought you were too" he admitted and she couldn't help but laugh a little through her tears.

"I didn't think I would get to see you or Jack or Gerry or Brian or my mum again" she cried softly to him.

"I know but you made it. It takes a lot to get rid of us" he joked lightly.

"I was so scared" she admitted crying harder.

"I can only imagine because I was terrified" he replied kissing her on the temple.

"I need to call my mum" she sobbed.

"Why don't you wait till you have had some sleep. It is almost two in the morning" he suggested.

"Okay" she cried agreeing with him. She sat there crying too hard to speak for a long while sobbing out all the fears and emotions that she had kept bottles up the whole time. He held her as she cried rubbing circles on her back trying to provide comfort.

"I really want to go home now" she told him when she finally managed to get her tears under control.

"I know and I would love nothing more than to take you there but it isn't safe to leave yet. No one is allowed to leave." He reminded her and all she could do was moan in frustration and another wave of tears took over this time they were tears of frustration. She was tired of this place, she wanted to go home, to change into her favorite pajamas, curl up in bed with Robert next to her and sleep for days.

"Are you tired?" he asked her.

"Yes" she cried through her remaining tears. Now that he mentioned it she felt completely exhausted.

"Then why don't we lay down and you can close your eyes" he suggested.

"Alright" she willingly agreed, it did sound like a nice idea. And it was better than any alternative she could come up with.

"Good" he smiled at her. He relaxed his embrace so they could shift around allowing them both to lay in the sofa and she rested her head on his chest. His dinner jacket was still on her shoulders acting as a makeshift blanket and he wrapped his arms around her holding her close. In this position with his arms protecting her and his body heat warming her, it didn't take very long for her to fall into a peaceful dreamless sleep.

sssSSsss

The next thing Sandra knew she heard someone talking and Robert moved beneath her. She opened her eyes and looked up to see Jack standing in front of them. He was talking to Robert in hushed voices.

"Sorry sir I hate to do this but if you and the other guest ever want to leave there are some…procedural issues that need to be dealt with." Jack explained. As he spoke the two of them slowly sat up and she began to wake up further even though she would much rather have gone back to sleep. Sandra's memory was fuzzy and it took her several moments to remember what had happened and why they were asleep on a sofa she didn't recognize.

"Sandra" a woman's voice called out before Robert could respond to Jack. They both looked over to see Anne Bennett in the doorway, she was standing next to Gerry and Brian. Sandra had no doubt that her team had been interviewing the woman.

"Anne?" she managed to get out, her throat felt dry and scratchy. The other woman moved away from the two men and towards her. Gerry and Brian looked over at her frantically seeking permission and she nodded much to their obvious relief.

"Sandra are you okay?" Anne asked, her voice full of concern.

"I've been better" she admitted to the woman.

"Sir" Jack said impatiently waiting for a response.

"Ah…right…Sandra will you be alright if I step away for a few minutes?" He asked deeply concerned about leaving her.

"Yes" she replied with a nod, it was more an automatic response than an actual answer, she had no idea how she would feel being left alone. But Jack had made it clear that if they wanted to leave Robert had to go deal with something. And she wanted to leave more than anything so the only answer she could give was yes.

"Are you sure?" he pushed.

"Yes, I'll be fine" she tried to give him a smile but it came out as more of a grimace.

"I can stay with her" Anne offered suddenly.

"Will that be alright?" he asked again and she was beginning to wonder if he wanted her to say no.

"Yes, go we'll be fine sitting right here" she promised him.

"Okay I'll be right back" he replied though they both knew he would be gone for a little while. She nodded once more and hesitantly all four men left the room closing the door.

"Here you should drink some water" Anne told her grabbing a bottle before she sat down on the sofa next to her.

"Thank you" she said taking the bottle and drinking all the water in it.

"This is all Charlie's fault, I am so sorry" Anne began apologizing profusely as she handed Sandra a fresh bottle.

"It's hardly your fault" she objected drinking more water.

"Over the past few years I have had my suspicions but I ignored them. Lately he has gone to less trouble covering his business dealing. I've had enough proof in my mind for too long I should have gone to the police." The other woman moaned in guilt.

"Your husband is a dangerous man it's okay. I am sure you were afraid of what he might do." Sandra replied, her sleepy haze had lifted and to her relief she was capable of rational thoughts once more. She was not about to blame Anne for her husband's crimes.

"I should have stood up to him, how many people got hurt or died because of my silence?" she countered determined to find fault in her actions.

"Anne don't think about that, you can help put him away now."

"I will do whatever you guys need" she said emphatically.

"Thank you, I take it my team informed you that Robert and I have been here undercover?" she asked nervously.

"Yes they said you were both officers with the Met."

"I am so sorry I had to fool you Anne, I know this must be hard to understand all of this." Sandra apologized quickly, she genuinely liked the woman.

"You have no reason to apologize, I completely understand why you two went to all this trouble and I am glad you did, now Charlie can't get away any more." Anne assured her smiling back at her.

"Not everything I said was untruthful" Sandra added.

"I would imagine not. I do have one question are you and Robert married?"

"No we're not, the divorce part was completely a lie" she admitted.

"Were all the comments about your relationship a lie?" The other woman pushed her lightly.

"No not all of them" Sandra confessed softly.

"I take that to mean he has feeling for you?"

"Yes and I him" she confirmed.

"I knew there were feeling there" Anne exclaimed with a grin. "I hope it all works out for the better I have a good feeling" she added a giant grin on her face.

"I hope you're right though at the moment I just want to go home." Sandra told her with a tired sigh.

"I can only imagine how horrible this has been for you, you should drink more water." Anne responded and she quickly got up and returned with yet another full bottle. Sandra gladly accepted it with a smile. They were both quiet while she drank. "Can I get you anything else?" She asked as her eyes darted between Sandra and the door.

"No this is good thank you" she replied hungrily drinking the water. It didn't seem to matter how much water she had her throat remained dry.

"I am sure Samuel Ellis is the one who attacked you" Anne growled slightly as Sandra continued drinking.

"What is the relationship between him and your husband?"

"It is a little bit of blackmail and a lot of hero worship." Anne answered with a sigh. "Several years ago Ellis got into some trouble and Charlie got him out of it. In exchange Charlie gets some profit from this resort so we get to come here for free. Ellis begged him to let him be part of his crime enterprise or whatever he calls this stuff he does. I know that Charlie was more than happy to use the resort as a way to hide money and assets. Ellis will do anything Charlie tells him." She explained what she knew.

"Like allowing bombs to be buried all over the resort" Sandra said thinking a loud.

"Yes or knocking you out and strapping you to one hoping to kill you" Anne confirmed unhappiness written all over her face and her eyes looked at the door once more.

"What I don't understand is how they knew we were police?" Sandra asked desperate to figure out what had gone wrong.

"It is possible he didn't" she countered.

"Then why attack and try and kill me?" Sandra asked confused.

"Charlie is always suspicious of anyone I become friends with, he always finds some way to scare them off. You are not the first to get hurt, though you are the first he has tried to kill. I don't know if he is afraid I will tell them things I know or if they will convince me to leave him. Or maybe he is afraid they are secretly police. He has never told me. But it is the reason I don't really have friends, to protect people. I tried not to get friendly with you but it was too hard, I needed someone to talk to. I'm sorry Sandra this really is my fault." Anne truly seemed to take the blame for her husband's actions and even in her current condition Sandra was determined to put a stop to it.

"None of this is your fault, you are allowed to make friends, you are not responsible for what your husband does. He is the only person to blame for what happened to me. I do not want you to blame yourself for all this, you did nothing wrong." Sandra tried to reassure her firmly yet still trying to be kind.

"Thank you, though I will always blame myself a little. You must be exhausted and emotionally spent. Does that hurt?" she asked motioning towards the bandage on her head.

"Only a little now that it is stitched up" Sandra replied. In all honesty she didn't know what she felt anymore, when she first began talking to Anne she felt awake and alert but those feelings had been short lived. She was feeling exhausted once more and she hoped Robert would return soon so they could either go back to sleep or leave this place once and for all.

"I am sure you want to go back to sleep I can leave and stop bothering you." the older woman offered as if reading her thoughts.

"No please stay I am sure Robert will be back soon" she objected. She did want to be asleep but she didn't really want to be alone. It was unlikely that any of Bennett's men were still around but she was not in the mood to take any chances.

"Alright but please don't let me keep you up. Why don't you close your eyes? I'll make sure no one bothers you till he gets back." Anne suggested and Sandra happily accepted. She rested her head against the back of the sofa and closed her eyes. Yet sleep didn't come as she had expected, without Robert she didn't feel safe enough to relax and fall asleep. Instead she just sat there with her eyes closed resting. She didn't have the energy to keep talking.

"Sandra?" Anne asked speaking to her after a while.

"Hmm?" she replied not bothering to open her eyes.

"I wasn't completely honest with you" Anne informed her.

"Oh really?" it was more of an off handed response, she really didn't care that much at the moment.

"Yes, Charlie tried to kill you because I told him to" the older woman informed her flatly.

"What?" Sandra asked opening her eyes suddenly confused unsure if she had heard the woman correctly. She searched the room with her eyes for Anne and found her very close to her. Sandra struggled to sit up quickly as fear began to rise in her.

"I said I asked Charlie to kill you" Anne repeated herself.

"But why?" Sandra asked in shock.

"Because I knew exactly what you were. You and your fake husband were too friendly. But it wasn't until Ellis told me that Robert requested to be in Charlie's golf group then I knew for sure. Charlie can be so oblivious sometimes, he would never be where he is today without me. He is far too trusting the bloodly fool thinks people will just fawn all over him and do whatever he wants. And when they don't I make sure they reconsider." Anne told her harshly with a sickening grin.

"But I heard your husband tell Ellis he planned to kill you?" Sandra exclaimed still trying to make sense of Anne's confession.

"That lie was for Ellis, Charlie was planning to pin this all on Ellis, he would disappear and then I would join him, leaving that little idiot behind. But for it to work I knew we had to kill you, and then Robert would die looking for you. That would leave no one around to challenge the crazy story Ellis would tell the police." Anne explained and her face was now filled with anger.

"So everything you just said five minutes ago about this being your fault was the truth, but why pretend to be worried about me?" Sandra asked trying to work out what was happening, none of this made any sense to her.

"Sorry I couldn't resist having a little bit of fun with you, listening to you tell me it wasn't my fault, trying to make me feel better was just too good to pass up. Plus I had to make sure Robert wasn't going to rush back here a few minutes after her left."

"Why are you telling me all this now? Why not just leave and disappear?"

"Because you have Ellis and you will have Charlie soon. I can't leave without my husband. I love him too much. I suspect that is a sentiment you are beginning to understand." Anne hissed at her, it was clear Anne blamed her for upsetting her plan. Sandra just stared at the woman in disbelief. She had completely fallen for the woman's lies all week long.

"You were so desperate to become friends with me you told me everything I would have wanted to hear from a new friend. And at first everything you told me about your relationship was a lie, I could tell you are not a good enough actress, but then your demeanor completely changed and you were practically gushing like a school girl. It was priceless here you were head over heels for the man clearly pretending to be your husband. It was a welcome entertainment for what would have been a very boring week. I knew then that if you disappeared he would do anything to find you. The only thing I didn't anticipate was you two overhearing Charlie last night. One little mistake screwed everything up." Anne glared at her the whole time she spoke and Sandra finally had an answer to her question. They had messed up right from the start and hadn't fool Anne at all, it was she who fooled them.

"Yes it did, you know I'm going to have to arrest you" Sandra told her trying to clear the fog in her mind so she could do her job once more. To her surprise Anne began to laugh.

"You're going to arrest me?" she asked laughing even harder.

"Yes I am" Sandra confirmed looking at the other woman as if she had gone mad.

"I don't think you understand what is going on. You have been through hell tonight I can see it in your eyes. There isn't an ounce of strength left in your body, you can't fight me" she laughed nearly hysterically.

"You think you can escape? The place is filled with officers" Sandra informed her surprised that the woman would even dare try.

"I'm not going to run, I am going to punish you and Robert for ruining everything. It will be agony to live knowing he left you alone with me." She smiled manically and realization hit Sandra a moment too late. Anne lunged forward and wrapped her hands tightly around Sandra's throat and began to squeeze choking the life out of her. Sandra's survival instincts kicked in and she began to claw at the woman's hands trying to get them off her neck, when that didn't work she moved on. She scratched Anne's face and tried to reach for her eyes but Anne held her back. She was quickly becoming light headed and she was losing energy fast.

"I am going to finish was Ellis was too stupid to do. If I can't disappear with Charlie then Robert doesn't get to live happily ever after with you." Anne hissed getting right up in her face.

At that moment the door burst open and while Anne didn't stop her attack, she did looked over at the noise. Sandra took advantage of the distraction and smashed her head into the other woman's. The force was more than Sandra was prepared to endure after the night's earlier events and she saw stars as her head exploded in pain. She was genuinely surprised she didn't pass out but it did take her a few seconds before she realized Anne had been pulled off her. She looked up to find Gerry and Brian restraining Anne as Robert and Jack rushed past them towards her.

"Are you okay?" Robert asked reaching her first. She tried to nod as she coughed working to catch her breath.

"Here" Jack cried handing her an open bottle of water. She took a few sips as she attempted to force her brain to focus.

"Bitch" she heard Anne scream.

"Get her out of here" Robert yelled. She heard some scuffling and then the noise stopped. She took another drink of water and several deep breaths. Soon she found she could finally breath again as she got air back into her lungs.

"Sandra are you okay?" Robert asked again taking her face in his hands forcing her to focus on him.

"Yes I think so" she panted slightly. Her head hurt but her senses where returning to her once more.

"Thank god you're alive" he exclaimed kissing her on the forehead.

"Ow" she moaned softly.

"Sorry, you're bleeding under your bandage" he told her looking at her head. "I'm worried you might have ripped a stitch or two."

"I don't care" she moaned.

"We should get that checked out" Jack told them.

"No, I'm not going to the hospital and no more paramedics" she cried as panic surged through her for a moment.

"We should get them back" Robert countered.

"No please I don't want them" she begged him and tears threatened to appear.

"Okay we won't it's okay" he assured her pulling her into his arms. A few tears did appear but nothing like before, instead she rested her head against him needing to be held.

"Don't leave me again" she asked him softly.

"I won't I promise" he whispered back to her. And he just sat there holding her in silence for a while. Sometime later the door opened again and she heard Gerry and Brian come in.

"She okay?" Gerry asked worried. Sandra pulled back from Robert so she could look at the other men.

"Yes I'm okay where is Anne?" she asked him.

"On her way to the local nic to be charged" Gerry answered.

"That's good, she is the brains behind her husband's empire. She figured us out from the beginning. She told Ellis to take me so I would die and you would die looking for me." She told Robert, her words came out quickly as she tried to tell him everything.

"They are never going to hurt anyone ever again" he assured her.

"None of them are going to hurt anyone again" Gerry added.

"We have Charles in custody now as well and the police in Scotland will be transferring him down to us in London come Monday. Ellis has admitted to everything including Anne ordering him to take you." Jack told her exactly what she wanted to hear.

"The moment we found out we rushed back to you" Gerry informed her.

"Glad you got here when you did" she replied taking a deep breath.

"Me too" Jack agreed with a sigh.

"Can we please go home?" she asked Robert exhausted, frustrated, and now in pain.

"Not yet I'm sorry, the bomb squad is now concerned about everywhere Anne has been while we were busy." Robert apologized to her.

"Then is there any way I could get some clothes to change into and maybe a place to splash some water on my face?" She begged them, she had finally had enough on being stuck in her dress.

"I can go with an officer and get your clothes" Gerry told her eager to do something to help.

"I'll go with him, we can get all your things so you can leave as soon as they give the word" Brian offered.

"That would be great" she exhaled happily.

"All three of us will go. There is a bathroom right through that door" Jack added pointing to the door behind them to the connecting room.

"Perfect" she replied with a small smile.

"We'll be back as soon as possible" Gerry promised and the three quickly departed.

"Here why don't I help you up" Robert suggested standing up and offering her a hand.

"Thank you" she gladly accepted. She groaned in pain as she stood up, her body did not appreciate the movement.

"Your head?" he asked worried.

"Yeah I'm okay" she assured him.

"I'm coming with you in there let me help you" he asked though he wasn't really giving her much choice.

"Sure okay, I really just want to wash my face off" she informed him as they entered the smaller room. Inside she found a rather luxurious space, the mirror was gilded, the faucet fixtures looked to be made of gold or at least gold plated, even the towels looked softer than the ones in their own bungalow.

Sandra gazed in the mirror and gasped out loud at the sight she saw looking back as her. She barely recognized herself. There was a lot more dried blood on the side of her face than she had expected. She even had some on her shoulder and her dress. Her mascara had run all over the place and most of her other makeup was gone washed away from the sweat or her tears.

"Here let me" Robert offered and she nodded. He wet a towel and gently began to wash away everything he could. The cloth felt soft on her skin and the water was warm. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of being cleaned. She would have loved nothing more than to climb into a bath and stand under the warm water as she had done the night before. But even the beautiful bathroom she was standing in had no bathtub or shower. And even if it had she didn't have the mental equity or the energy necessary to shower with stitches. Instead she would settle for Robert washing her off.

"There how is that?" he asked and she opened her eyes. The reflection she saw now was far closer to the one she was accustomed to seeing.

"Better, thank you" she replied smiling at him.

"Good I am so sorry I left you alone" he apologized.

"I told you to go, I thought Anne was a victim of her husband, not the brains behind the whole operation. She fooled me, she really did. This was not your fault." She told him firmly looking right at him. And then she kissed him, it was not the most passionate kiss they had ever shared but it did convey her feelings for him.

"I still should have never left you" he argued when she pulled back.

"Someone had to go be the officer in charge" she countered.

"Yes but I should have asked Gerry, Jack, or Brian to stay with you."

"Yeah well we both thought we could trust Anne. Please can we let it go at least for right now?" She asked him too exhausted to convince him this was not his fault.

"Yes of course I'm sorry. How is your head?"

"It hurts, not too much to bear at the moment though. But you know what I really want?"

"What?" he asked prepared to do whatever she wanted.

"I want out of this dress" she moaned in frustration.

"Hopefully Gerry and the others will be back with our luggage soon" he replied optimistically.

"I never want to see this dress again" she grumbled.

"You looked very pretty in it" he countered lightly trying to make her feel better.

"I loved this dress when I bought it but after tonight I would like to burn it. I will never wear it again." Not even beauty or vanity could entice her to ever want to wear the dress again if she could even get it cleaned. All she would ever think of when she looked at the dress was this night—tied to a bomb and nearly dying twice.

"I completely understand" he replied very softly kissing her on the side of her head.

Ten minutes later Gerry, Jack and Brian along with two uniform officers entered the room carrying their luggage. Sandra and Robert were seated on the sofa where he was making her drink more water. At the sight of her belongings she stood up eager to get changed.

"I packed all your stuff myself so I know we got everything" Jack assured her putting her bags down next to her.

"Thank you so much Jack" she exclaimed already digging around for the clothes she wanted to change into.

"We got all your stuff too" Gerry told Robert with a laugh.

"Thank you guys for doing this" he replied with a smile.

"Glad to help we'll let you two get changed" Gerry said pushing Brian towards the door.

"I think you should be able to leave in about twenty or thirty minutes, I'll go double check" Jack added before following the other two men out the door.

"Unzip me?" Sandra asked him once they were alone.

"Of course" he agreed and to her relief she was finally able to shed her dress. She let out an audible sigh of relief as it pooled around her feet.

"Do you need help with those?" he asked pointing to the pile of clothes in her hands.

"No I am going to go wash off a little more as well" she replied walking back into the bathroom. She closed the door and removed her remaining under garments then used the towel to wash off everything she could.

She had blood and sweat all over and this make shift sponge bath was her best option for feeling clean. She set to work trying to wash away any evidence of the ordeal she had been through. In her condition she wasn't able to move very quickly and as a result Robert called out twice to check on her. Yet once she was done she felt almost normal again.

Other than her pajamas the most comfortable clothes she had with her was her yoga outfit that she had worn the night before when they spied on Charles and Ellis. She gladly slipped them on along with her gray hoodie. As she had done the previous night she pulled her hair back up into a ponytail happy to have it off her neck. Satisfied she walked out of the bathroom feeling ten times better. Then she caught sight of her dress still on the floor. She picked it up and dropped it straight in the trash bin, she didn't even want to pack the dress or take it home. Robert had changed out his formal wear and into jeans and a polo shirt.

"Better" he asked hopefully.

"Much better" she replied happily.

Together they sat back down on the sofa and Sandra curled up into him closing her eyes. They sat there in silence, he began to softly running his hand through her hair and she started to doze off. She lost all track of time and the next thing she knew there was a knock on the door.

"Come in" Robert called and she opened her eyes to find the boys entering once more.

"You are finally free to go" Jack informed them much to her delight.

"Thank god" she sighed sitting up and slipping her trainers on more than ready to leave.

"We'll get your bags you two just worry about yourselves." Gerry instructed them picking up their bags with the help of the other two.

Sandra and Robert eagerly stood up happy to let the boys deal with their cases. Together the group slowly made the trek from the building to Robert's car. Once there Gerry and Brian helped the man load all the bags into the boot of his car. Jack opened the passenger's side door for Sandra but put a hand on her shoulder stopping her and she looked at him with a questioning look.

"Will you be alright?" he asked her with genuine concern.

"Yes I will be just fine once I get some sleep" she promised him and then she hugged him suddenly. "Thank you for everything" she said softly.

"I'm just glad you are safe" he replied before he released her. "Don't you dare show up to work Monday or we will take you straight home." He warned her making it vert clear they would follow through on that threat.

"I won't, I am going to sleep for a very long time" she assured him once more before climbing into the car and he closed the door for her.

As she waited for Robert she looked at the sky. It was only half past five and there was just a faint hint of light off in the distance everywhere else was still dark. Sandra didn't honestly care what time it was all she cared about was leaving this place once and for all. She hoped to never see the resort or its bungalows ever again. She did slightly wonder what would happen to it now that its owners were about to go to jail for a very long time. But she wasn't curious enough to try and find out. She simply wanted to go home and sleep forever. She didn't care that she would likely have to deal with the psychological implications of the events from that night. And there would be a trial for Charles, Ellis, and Anne but she wasn't thinking about any of that at the moment. She felt like she had lived through a months' worth of events in the last ten hours. All she wanted was to go home and climb into bed with Robert to keep her safe. She looked up and smiled as he climbed into the driver's seat next to her.

"You ready?" he asked giving her hand a squeeze before turning the car on.

"More than ready" she replied. She waved at Gerry, Jack, and Brian as they drove away. She let out a giant sigh of relief.

"Why don't know close your eyes and rest" Robert suggested. She nodded happy to do just that, they were finally going home together.

A/N This is the last full chapter of the story though I have a short epilogue that I will post tomorrow, I promise. Thank you so much for reading!


	12. Epilogue

**Undercover**

 _Disclaimer- I own nothing I wish I did but I just get to play with the characters_

Epilogue

"I know I made you promise we would spend the rest of the weekend in your bed" Robert began.

"This just wasn't what you meant by it?" Sandra replied completing his thought. It was Sunday afternoon and Sandra felt as though she had done nothing but drink water and sleep since the moment she got home the day before.

"Yes exactly" he agreed.

"That will teach you to be careful what you wish for" she teased him.

"Yes I know" he grumbled lightly. "You are taking tomorrow off from work correct?" he asked for the tenth time.

"Yes how many times do I need to say it. Gerry, Jack, and Brian will not let me set foot in the office till Tuesday. You have threatened to take me straight home if you see me in the office. What choice do I really have?" She asked trying to feel put out by the way they were treating her, yet even after all the sleep she had gotten she still felt exhausted.

"Sorry but it is true you don't have much choice" he informed her and he almost sounded sorry. But she knew better.

"You know I honestly don't care right? The Glasgow police won't transfer Charles Bennett down here till tomorrow. He can't be interviewed till Tuesday. And before you say it I already know I can't talk to him, one or all of the guys will do the interview. There is nothing but paperwork to do tomorrow and it will likely still be there on Tuesday. I am sure Anne Bennett and Samuel Ellis won't be moved down till tomorrow as well." She told him everything he already knew but she wanted him to know that she understood the reality of the situation and her own limitations. Just talking about it made her feel exhausted.

"And your boss will not be demanding the paperwork any time soon I can assure you." He added grinning at her.

"That is very true" she replied snuggling further into his embrace. "Next weekend can be out sexy fun weekend in bed" she promised him.

"Only if you feel up for it. When do the stitches come out?"

"I have to wait till next Monday" she grumbled. The stitches felt like an inconvenience at this point but she wisely kept the thought to herself. She didn't need to hear him lecture her on her health and safety, again. It had been hard enough to convince him she didn't need to go to A&E the previous night.

After sleeping most of the day on Saturday Sandra had managed to wake up and eat a little dinner. Once she had some soup Robert suggested she change the bandage over her stitches. He offered to help and when he removed the old bandage they could see that several of her stitches had been pulled. The consequences of her using her head as a weapon against Anne. It had taken several minutes of arguing to convince Robert that she didn't need to have the injury looked at.

"Are you sure we should be engaging in strenuous activities next weekend with the stitches still in?" he asked concerned. She knew he was being serious but the question made her laugh a little.

"I am sure I will be fine" she informed him.

"I don't want to risk hurting you" he replied still concerned.

"We will take it easy at first" she conceded to appease him.

"Thank you and you will be okay tomorrow on your own?"

"I will be fine" she sighed.

"Sorry I'm sure you will be glad to have me out of you way so you can have your place all to yourself again." He said looking slightly embarrassed and she worked hard not to laugh once more.

"Actually I think I have gotten use to you being around" she admitted to him.

"Really?" he reacted surprised.

"Yes though it's not like I'm saying you should move in at the moment but after spending a week with you in that small bungalow, I'm going to miss you not being around." She told him honestly.

"I know what you mean" he agreed with a smile. "Why don't I grab some take away after work tomorrow?" he offered.

"That sounds perfect" she sighed happily lifting slightly to kiss him.

"I feel like I have done everything completely out of order" he moaned unhappily when they pulled apart.

"What do you mean?"

"You and me, us, I feel like I rushed all this with you. And I really wanted to do this right. You are important to me, this relationship is very important to me. I don't want to mess this up by doing it wrong." He replied trying to explain to her how her felt. He was scared, concerned, and worried and it was slightly adorable to her not that she would tell him.

"Robert calm down there is no right and wrong. I have had relationships where we did everything in the right order and it still didn't work out. We are consenting adults and we can do this any way we bloody want. We haven't done anything wrong. Who cares if we shared a bed before we discovered our feelings, who cares that we had sex before every going on a date. Though we did have dinner together many times this week and that counts for something. Plus who cares if we went on a fake holiday and fell in love." She told him determined that she would convince him that they didn't do anything in the wrong order.

"And what about using the L word, I have said that quite a bunch?" he asked still unconvinced.

"I don't have a problem with you saying it as long you mean it."

"Oh I definitely mean it" he assured her emphatically.

"I meant it when I said it too, it doesn't scare me" she reassured him.

"That's good, I'm glad, because I would like to keep saying it" he said with a smile.

"I want you too and if I want you to come over for dinner and spend the night several nights a week I don't see anything wrong with that either." She added, her true motive was to determine if he felt the same way .

"I don't think there is anything wrong with that either" he confirmed kissing her once more. "As long as I get to take you out to dinner and maybe a film every once in a while."

"I think I can schedule you in" she agreed playfully.

"Oh I just remembered something" he exclaimed excitedly and she couldn't help but laugh.

"And what is that?" she asked curious what had cause such a reaction in him.

"You agreed to go to the opera with me" he reminded her with a grin.

"I don't know if I truly agreed but if you are offering to take me I am absolutely agreeing right now" she approved more than happy with the idea.

"You don't know how pleased I am to finally be going, seriously no one has ever been willing to go with me" he gushed humorously to her.

"It is just the opera, but I am happy you're glad about this" she laughed lightly.

"I love you" he cried joyfully.

"Because of the opera?" she asked continuing to laugh, he was acting like a little boy.

"Yes and everything else."

"Happy to oblige" she joked until a yawn stopped her.

"Just one more thing and then you are going back to sleep" he said when he caught sight of her yawn.

"What's that?" she inquired curious once more.

"Please don't ever get knocked over the head and tied up on a bomb. I don't want you to go through that again and I don't really want to have to watch you go through that again." He pleaded with her.

"Trust me I don't ever want to have an experience like that, never ever again. But we are the police" she pointed out.

"Yes a fact I know all too well" he sighed.

"Don't worry whatever comes up we can deal with it" she assured him.

"You know hat is very true, how did you get so smart?"

"Well that life lesson comes from having worked with Gerry, Jack and Brian they manage to get out of everything. But don't tell them I said that."

"It will only go to their heads?"

"Exactly, though I promise you I will never get taken in by someone like Anne every again. I feel so stupid for being so gullible." She growled angry with herself.

"She fooled me too, I'm the one who left her alone with you giving her the opportunity to try and kill you once more" he countered.

"I should have been paying more attention I wanted Charles so badly I was willing to believe whatever she said."

"You had no Intel that suggested she was involved in any of his work. The guys agreed on that point, they didn't suspect her either. It wasn't just you, so please don't blame yourself" he begged her.

"I will try but it will be hard" she argued before yawning once more.

"Okay time to go to sleep again" he declared ending the conversation.

"I don't understand, all I have done is sleep since we got home. How can I still be tried?" she whinged.

"Traumatic events and physical injury affect people in all different ways, the stress level on your body was exceedingly high it needs rest to recuperate. Now just close your eyes. I will be right here when you wake up" he promises.

"Don't you dare put golf on that TV while I'm asleep" she ordered him.

"I wouldn't dream of it" he argued.

"Yes you would" she countered.

"I promise no golf" he reassured her kissing her forehead and she shifted slightly snuggling into him her eyes now firmly closed.

"I love you" he told her softly.

"I love you too" she whispered already half asleep. One day she would have to thank the guys for asking Strickland to go undercover with her. But not today it would only go to their heads.

A/N Thank you- a million times over for reading this story, I really hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have. And thank you for all the wonderful reviews they are so lovely!

I am going to try really hard to get come of the other stories I wrote posted but it might take a day or two to actually make that happen.


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